GROS ISLET, St Lucia, CMC – West Indies Women captain Hayley Matthews says her side will be focussed on collecting the precious ICC Championship points on offer, when they face Ireland Women in the final One-Day International of the three-match series here today.
The hosts captured the first ODI by 58 runs last Monday but then watched as persistent rained forced a no-result in Thursday’s second outing, as only 52 deliveries were possible at the Darren Sammy Cricket Ground.
With the Championship points going towards automatic qualification for the next World Cup, Matthews said it was important West Indies capitalised on the opportunities presented.
“We’re just trying to close out really well. This is a really important series for us – I think it’s our last Home Series for quite a while so we’re really just looking to grab those last two points and hopefully put ourselves in a much better position in the table,” Matthews said here yesterday.
“We’re in a pretty strong position right now. Obviously a bit disappointing with the start we had in the second match that we weren’t able to capitalise on it, with the rain coming down and washing out that game.
“But at the same time we’re really confident heading into this last match and hopefully we can leave it with five points and a series win.”
West Indies dominated the opener, posting 297 for six off their 50 overs, with Matthews hitting her fourth ODI hundred with 109 and former skipper Stafanie Taylor and Chinelle Henry scoring half-centuries. However, West Indies were still pushed by the Irish, opener Gaby Lewis hitting 83 to help the visitors respond with a respectable 239 for nine. In the second ODI initially reduced to 20 overs per side, new-ball seamers Aaliyah Alleyne and Shamilia Connell grabbed two wickets apiece to reduce Ireland to 36 for five before rain ended the contest prematurely.
Reflecting on the two matches, Matthews says there were areas where West Indies could improve.
“Looking at the first match, we had a pretty good outing with the bat and then restricting Ireland but there’s a lot of areas we can improve on still,” the 24-year-old said.
“We would’ve wanted to even bowl a bit better throughout the first game, with our spinners in our opinion, going a bit expensive.
“So even though we got the job done, there were still some critical areas where we know we could’ve done better in and we’re hoping to improve in [this] last match.”
