(CMC) – West Indies Women’s captain Hayley Matthews says her teammates showed tremendous heart and grit in defeating England to qualify for the semifinals of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup on Tuesday.
Needing a win to secure a place in the final four, West Indies Women produced an exceptional performance on their way to recording a comfortable six-wicket victory over the favourites, eliminating them from the competition in the process.
It marked the first time West Indies women had defeated England since 2018 and snapped a 13-game losing streak.
West Indies will now play New Zealand in the second semifinal tomorrow for a spot in Sunday’s final.
Matthews said she was extremely proud of the Caribbean side’s progress in the tournament since their embarrassing opening round loss to South Africa, where they went down by 10 wickets.
Qiana Joseph (left) and West Indies captain Hayley Matthews both scored half centuries to lead their team to victory over England.
“Yeah, it was just massive jubilation.
I think we’re just incredibly proud of what we’ve been able to do so far this tournament.
“I think a lot of people wrote us off coming into this tournament and the way we’ve been able to go about our cricket, especially after the start we had against South Africa; we’ve just bounced back against Scotland, against Bangladesh, and I think we haven’t beat England in about six years,” Matthews said at the post-match press conference following their victory that propelled them to pole position in Group B.
“As far as I can remember, the last time we beat them was back in 2018, but everyone still came here with a belief and a fight.
“And it just shows what we can do as a West Indian team. I think a lot of people coming up against us know that if it is one thing we’ve got, it’s a lot of heart and a lot of fight, and we just showed that today,” she added.
Matthews, who scored an even half-century, and together with fellow opener Qiana Joseph, who made 52, put on 102 runs to spearhead the Windies’ chase, admitted that everything had clicked during that stand.
“I think going out we didn’t imagine getting 60 off six overs, but me personally, from the first ball I faced, I noticed it was sliding on, and I kind of took a liking to that,” she said.
“And then Qiana pretty much has just one role when she goes out there, and that’s to get us off to a really good start. She has amazing hand-eye coordination, and I think that when you do come in her half on a good wicket, she really is a dangerous player.”
