Windies look to avoid 0-5 sweep against England Women
WEST INDIES Women will be seeking to avoid a 0-5 sweep on their Twenty20 (T20) tour of England entering today’s final match at Derbyshire’s County Ground.
Over the first four matches, West Indies Women rang the personnel changes and even shuffled their batting line-up, but still came up well short against the English women at every turn.
After England took a 4-0 lead with a 44-run victory on Monday, Windies Captain Stafanie Taylor lamented facets of the game in which the team has struggled.
“We’re still bowling in good areas, but the last five overs they are still beating us. The batting is still not coming. We’re still leaving it up to one person to get most of the runs,” she said in a television interview.
“It’s the last game and we probably have players here who haven’t played much. We still want to give players exposure, but at the same time you want to keep that core group as well,” Taylor continued.
After her team made 166-6 and then limited West Indies to 122-9, England skipper Heather Knight noted there remains room for improvement.
“Still think we’ve got more to give… at times [we were] off the pace. It was a slow start with the bat, but I’m pleased we punched back, and to score 160 was really good,” Knight said.
Monday’s result is the 12th-straight defeat for West Indies Women in a bilateral series, after going down 0-3 to world champions Australia and 0-5 to India last year.
Aside from the opening game when England Women got off to a bullet start, West Indies bowlers have been generally decent early up. But in all cases West Indies were unable to deal with the hosts when they hit the accelerator toward the back end of the innings.
The batting has been even more of a concern — only the outstanding Deandra Dottin has made a meaningful impact, top scoring for the visiting team in three of the four matches.
Interim Head Coach Andre Coley clung to a positive perspective amidst the gloom, noting the series finale provides the chance for some level of consolation.
“We have shown growth in all areas at some point throughout the series,” Coley said during yesterday’s prematch press conference.
“The final match offers an opportunity for us to be better... we know what our plans are, so it’s about executing at the back,” he told journalists.
All matches are being staged in Derby, with strict biosecure arrangements in effect and without on-site spectators to reduce the risk of exposure to the novel coronavirus.
West Indies, who began the T20 series ranked sixth in the world, lost the opening two matches by 47 runs before sliding to a 20-run defeat in the third contest.
Before the series, the previous clash between the teams had been at the T20 World Cup in Australia earlier this year, with number two ranked England coasting to a 46-run victory.
While England Women had gone on to the semi-finals, West Indies, who could only manage victory over minnows Thailand, failed to advance from the group stage.