West Indies women moved to third on the International Cricket Council’s Women’s 50-over World Cup points table after a last over four-run win over Bangladesh women and star all-rounder, Hayley Matthews, is crediting the spinners and their experience for the win.
Matthews, a potent off-spinner, bagged a career-best 4-15 to secure the player of the match award.
“We knew going out there we definitely didn’t have enough runs on the board so we needed to produce something special with the ball and I think all the spinners that took to the plate, Karishma Ramharack, she bowled her 10 overs for 15 runs as well that was wonderful to see, creating a lot of pressure, bowling in partnerships, is exactly what we needed to do going out there as a bowling unit.”
Shemaine Campbelle made 53 not out while Matthews had the next best score of 18 as West Indies women posted 140.
In addition to Matthews, off-spinner, Stafanie Taylor and leg-spinner, Afy Fletcher, each took three wickets to see the Caribbean side over the line.
“I think over the past couple of months, our coaching staff have been working really hard with us,” said Matthews.
“We have seen our games moving forward over the last couple months,” she added.
Matthews currently is the joint leading wicket taker in the tournament with 10 wickets. She is joined by South Africa’s duo, Ayabonga Khaka and Marizanne Kapp. With the bat, the opener sits in fourth position with 225 runs at an average of 45.
“I think we have been able to play a lot of cricket throughout 2021, ODI [One Day Internationals] cricket especially and that has been able to help us here. We’ve been in pressure situations before and just the experience, growing, playing a lot more matches, playing more international matches has definitely helped me with those situations,” she declared.