WI Women’s head coach: First class system for red ball cricket not priority

As things stand, a regional red ball setup in the Women’s game is an immediate priority of Cricket West Indies.

That was the assessment from West Indies Women’s head coach Shane Deitz during his press conference on Monday.

Turning his attention to the upcoming Test matches against world number one ranked Australia next year and England Women in 2027, Deitz acknowledged the challenge but noted that most women’s teams are similar in lacking a dedicated first-class structure for red-ball cricket.

“It’s obviously a big challenge against the best test team in women’s cricket. But if you look at other countries around the world, England, Australia, et cetera, no one really has a first-class system for their red ball cricket. It’s pretty much before a test series, they might have an internal game, multi-day game beforehand,” he explained.

The Australian continued “So we’re not alone in not having a first-class series. We’ve got one (test), it’s the first one probably a lot of our girls will have played so it’s not something you can put a lot of resources and money into, because if we do that, we’re going to take money away from regional cricket and other things.”

Whilst being cognisant of the financial realities in the women’s game, the 49-year-old head coach reaffirmed his commitment to making the Women in Maroon better at the shorter formats of the game.

“It’s great to play a Test match, and we’re going to try our best,” he said. “But investing heavily in red-ball cricket when we only play one Test every few years isn’t practical. The reality is, women’s cricket is built around white-ball formats. Our priority is to qualify for this year’s World Cup in India and next year’s T20 World Cup. However, if Test cricket becomes a more regular fixture, then we can push for greater investment.”

Having last played a Test in 2004, West Indies Women will host a test against Australia in 2006; 50 years after the regional side made their test debut against the Australians in 1976 and the last time they played a home test. They will also host England in the longest format of the game in 2017, which will be the first time those two sides have met since 1979. An away test match against South Africa is scheduled for 2028.

The Women in Maroon’s short record from four Test series stands at three draws and one loss to England. The maroon team played Australia (0-0) in 1976, India in 1977 (1-1), lost to England (2-0) in 1979 and drew against Pakistan (0-0) in 2004.

Johnny Grave, whose tenure as Cricket West Indies chief executive ended last year, raised the prospect of the West Indies playing a Test at the iconic Kensington Oval, home of their captain Hayley Matthews.

Speaking to the Stumped podcast last year at the time of announcement, Grave said “When you have an iconic player, who will go down in history of our game, Hayley Mathews it seems right she will have the opportunity to wear a maroon Test cap and lead her team out, hopefully at her home ground of the Kensington Oval at some point in a Test.”

He concluded “Our philosophy has been that red-ball cricket is where you can build your technique, hone your defence and look to score all around the wicket. If that is what we believe for the men then it has to be the case for the women.”