Fri | Mar 29, 2024

Windies Women attempt to salvage series

Published:Saturday | September 26, 2020 | 12:09 AMLennox Aldred/Gleaner Writer
DOTTIN
DOTTIN

The West Indies Women will try to avoid a series loss to their English counterparts when the sides meet in the third Twenty20 International in Derby, England, today at 7 a.m. Jamaica time.

The regional girls trail England 2-0 in the five-match series.

Assistant coach Esuan Crandon faced the media in a prematch press conference yesterday and said the girls are upbeat about putting in a better showing as they aim to get a positive result from the remaining three games.

“With three games to go, we have tried to reinforce to them that if we win the next game, we are back in the series and then build some momentum from there,” he said. “We can then put some pressure on the English players, and then take care of the last two games.

“It’s more about positive feedback to the players. We did our homework already with the English players and the players are clear as to what we want to do [today]. It all comes down to execution, for me, at the end of the day.”

The Windies have been completely out-batted in the tournament, with only opener Deandra Dottin showing any real intent with scores of 69 and 38 in two lost causes.

Captain Stafanie Taylor has amassed just 36 runs in two innings, with another senior player, Hayley Matthews, faring much worse, with only six runs in two innings.

The regional side will be hoping that Taylor and Matthews can shrug off their poor form and come up with the goods in today’s crucial contest; however, the coaching staff will be hoping that the middle and lower order can take some of the pressure off the top four, and also come up trumps with the team’s back against the wall.

“I think it is a matter for these girls to go out there and take some responsibility,” Crandon said. “It has not come off as yet for them, but we are very confident that the others are going to support from the next game onwards.

“They would not have performed as we expect of them. As a team, there is always different contributions from players. The more contributions you have with the bat, it is going to make it easier for the top.”