Matthews impressed with Windies’ effort despite loss

Despite conceding their T20I series to Australia Women after suffering a 17-run defeat on Saturday, West Indies Women’s skipper Hayley Matthews said she was still pleased with the fightback shown by her side in the second match.

Australia got off to a speedy start, with openers Georgia Voll and Beth Mooney smashing 54 runs off the Powerplay, which put them in position to post a formidable total.

However, the home side was able to pull back the game at the death to limit them to 164 for five in their 20 overs.

Matthews then broke out of her batting slump by scoring an impressive half century, while Deandra Dottin, who hit an unbeaten 39 off 28 balls and Stafanie Taylor, who made 22 kept the Windies in the hunt for victory.

The captain and Taylor shared a 77-run partnership for the second wicket, which carried them to a strong position of 90 for one at one stage.

Speaking in a post-match press conference, Matthews said there had been improvements from the opening game which they lost by 43 runs.

“One thing that we really wanted to focus on was putting together some partnerships and having two batters at the crease for a longer period of time and it was really good to see that we had a few of them today.

“Different people put their hands up; Stafanie in the middle, myself and Deandra coming at the end and looking really, really good too,” Matthews said.

“It certainly was a really good fightback from us I think in the bowling innings, as well when you talk about mentally. So going on to the next game now we just have to put it all together.”

Matthews, however, admitted that the team missed the services of the hard-hitting Chinelle Henry in their innings, who was unable to bat after picking up an injury in the field.

“…We obviously missed Chinelle Henry today, who is one of the premier batters in the world, out of our lineup after she got injured.

“You never know her coming into bat today definitely could have meant a different result too, so it was unfortunate not to have her…” Matthews said. (CMC)

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