By Tony McWatt
“She’s a very special person!”
That was the Facebook listed description of one adoring fan, immediately after Hayley Matthews had posted her career-best bowling figures of 4/15-10 overs to help the West Indies to yet another nail-biting win in their 2022 International Cricket Council’s (ICC) Women’s World Cup campaign. Matthews’ outstanding performance deservingly earned her the Player-of the-Match honors, while providing further concrete evidence of her continuing rise as West Indies Women’s cricket’s brightest shining star.
Matthews had earlier also demonstrated her outstanding batting skills in the West Indies opening match of the tournament against hosts New Zealand. She scored a superb century, 119 made off of 128 balls, including 16 fours and 1 six, to help the West Indies post 259/9 off their 50 overs, a total which in the end proved to be just out of reach for New Zealand.
Now still only just 24 years of age, Hayley Kristen Matthews started her involvement with cricket at the tender age of 11. By then she had already captained her school’s boys team. Just a year later, at 12 years of age, she made her debut for the Barbados Women’s team.