Windies Women beaten in WC Opener

West Indies Women’s Captain Hayley Matthews believes the Caribbean side failed to adapt to the conditions in Dubai, which led to their 10-wicket loss to South Africa in their opening match of the Women’s T20 World Cup.

The West Indies women could only muster 118 for six in their 20 overs, as the conditions were hot and humid. South Africa then made 119 without loss in 17.5 overs, with both Laura Wolvaardt and Tazmin Brits scoring half-centuries to lead their team to victory.

Matthews said the team could have performed better with both bat and ball.

“Obviously, it was a pretty disappointing game. Firstly, not scoring enough runs on the board, and we would have liked to have taken a few wickets and at least put up a bit more of a fight in the second innings,” said Matthews.

“But with a game in two days, we’re going to have to get things back together quickly and pick up the pieces and go again,“ Matthews said.

And while she admitted that the hot conditions were challenging, she said the Windies had not adjusted well.

“It’s pretty hot here in Dubai. I’d probably have to say the hottest place I’ve ever played cricket or even been to, and that’s someone coming from the West Indies.“

“It’s definitely been some difficult conditions. We’ve been here for about two weeks, thankfully, and we’ve been able to acclimatize as much as we possibly can to conditions like this…,“ Matthews said.

“I think we came down here expecting some pretty good wickets. We’ve camped here quite a bit when we went to Pakistan in April, and we tend to spend some time down here training, so we knew what the ICC Academy grounds were like, and those were pretty decent wickets early.

West Indies’ Stafanie Taylor in action batting against New Zealand in the ICC Women’s World Twenty20 2009 Group A match. Action Images / Paul Harding, file

“It wasn’t a bad wicket today. South Africa showed you can really bat on a wicket like that and even us in parts. Stafanie Taylor was able to take charge of the game as well throughout the middle.

“I don’t think the conditions surprised us too much. We probably just didn’t adapt to them as well today,“ the skipper added.