WEST Indies women will be hungry for a victory on Sunday against Pakistan to stay in contention of booking a place in the semi-finals of the International Cricket Council Women’s T20 World Cup in Paarl, South Africa. The match bowls off at 9 am TT time.
West Indies won their first match of the tournament on Friday, getting past Ireland by six wickets.
The regional team will not only have to win their match, but hope other results go their way in group two to advance to the semi-finals.
Windies middle order batter Shemaine Campbelle said they are focusing on their match and not what is out of their control.
“Obviously we're not going to think about that much to add any pressure on ourselves," Campbelle said in a media conference on Saturday.
“It's just to go out and play the brand of cricket that we can play and just doing the basic things right. Then we can just play the cricket that we know we can play and at the end of the day the results will come."
Campbelle knows Pakistan will believe in their chances also after winning their last match against Ireland.
“They come in with a win, we also have a win so I think both teams have that confidence but it's just for us to go out and apply ourselves and just play the brand of cricket that we know we can play.”
England lead group two with six points after earning three wins from as many matches. India are second with four points and Pakistan are third with two points. West Indies also have two points, but are behind Pakistan on net run rate. There is no chance for Ireland to qualify for the semi-finals as they sit in last place with zero points. The top two teams in each of the two groups advance to the semi-finals.
Windies captain Hayley Matthews led the way with 66 not out off 53 deliveries to guide the regional team to 140/4 in 19.5 overs against Ireland. Batting first, Ireland posted 137/9 in 20 overs.
West Indies needed a partnership as they were reduced to 46/2 in the ninth over.
A third-wicket partnership between Matthews and Chinelle Henry gave West Indies the edge. Both players found the boundary regularly, but when Henry fell for 34 off 28 balls (four fours) West Indies still had work to do needing 18 off 13 balls.
It was only fitting that Matthews hit the winning runs. She struck a boundary on the offside to end the match.
Ireland got a competitive score behind a knock of 61 from Orla Prendergast.
Fast bowler Shamilia Connell was the pick of the West Indies bowlers snatching 3/24 in four overs. Spinners Karishma Ramharack (2/18) and Afy Fletcher (2/21) were also among the wickets.
In the post-match media conference following the match, Matthews said it was important for someone to bat deep in the innings. "I think as captain and as one of the leaders in the batting lineup, we needed someone to bat through the innings and that's the role I tried to take on today,” Matthews said.
The post Windies women aim to stay in contention at World Cup T20 appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.
