West Indies Women’s head coach Shane Deitz has slammed his side’s performance after they suffered a disappointing 11-run loss to Scotland Women in their opening ICC Women’s T20 World Cup Qualifier in Lahore earlier today.
“Yeah, really pretty poor performance from most players,” Deitz admitted bluntly post-match. “We won the toss on a wicket that was offering a lot in the morning and the conditions were not so hot this morning.”
Despite winning the toss and inserting the opposition in helpful conditions, West Indies failed to truly capitalise as Scotland posted a competitive 244 all out in 45 overs, led by Sarah Bryce’s 55 and Megan McColl’s knock of 45 runs. Captain Hayley Matthews led the bowling effort with 4-56, triggering a middle-order collapse that briefly swung the momentum West Indies’ way.
“It was a good toss to win. We started off pretty well with the ball and then, you know, Scotland come hard at us and we didn’t really respond well to the pressure put on us,” Deitz explained. “They wanted to win the game more and took it to us. And whether it’s complacency or not backing ourselves or backing our skills, I’m not sure but we will do our individual reviews tomorrow and work out why we did that because it is not good enough and it cannot happen again.”
Chasing 245, the West Indies innings faltered despite a heroic unbeaten 114 from Matthews, who had to retire hurt on 95 due to severe cramps but returned to complete her century. Her efforts were in vain as the team were dismissed for 233 in 46.2 overs.
“The beauty of this tournament is, you know, we win the next four games, you know, with a good net run rate, should see us through,” said Deitz, who remains optimistic that the team can still qualify.
Looking ahead to their next match against Ireland on Friday, Deitz promised a stronger response: “Ireland are a good team. So that’s going to be a great contest and we’re going to recover well and come up for a fight and come fight hard next game.”
He suggested that playing with their backs against the wall might even bring out the best in his players.
“I think there’s more pressure when we’re expected to win. Like in the World Cup, when we lost the first game, you know, we come back really hard when the chips were down. Every game is a grand final. So there’s no tomorrow. We’ve got to leave everything out in the field, not hold back in any way.”
Deitz also lauded his skipper’s extraordinary display whose century and four-wicket haul earned her the Player of the Match award.
“She always does that. She leaves nothing in the sheds and she leads from the front and a lot of us can follow her and do what she does,” he said. “She bowled really well, got a lot of wickets at the start, dived around in the field in real hot conditions and then played magnificent innings and nearly got us over the line on one leg or no legs – her whole body was cramping.”
He continued, “Many of us didn’t want her to go back out there, but I think it would take a truck to stop her going out there. Amazing innings and a great leader and just shows what can be done when you push yourself and you’ve got that will to win no matter what. Hayley does that every time. She’s a legend and just hope she’s all right.”
West Indies Women face Ireland Women on Friday at the Lahore City Cricket Association Ground. Ireland lost their opening match against hosts Pakistan by 38 runs today.
