Matthews: We didn’t adapt to conditions well enough

DUBAI, UAE (CMC):

West Indies Women’s captain Hayley Matthews believes the Caribbean side failed to properly adapt to the conditions in Dubai during their 10-wicket loss to South Africa in their opening match of the Women’s T20 World Cup here yesterday.

In hot, humid conditions, the West Indies could only muster 118 for six in their 20 overs. South Africa then made light work of the target with both Laura Wolvaardt and Tazmin Brits scoring half centuries to lead their team to 119 without loss in 17.5 overs.

Speaking at the post-match press conference, Matthews said the team did not perform well with either bat or ball.

“Obviously a pretty disappointing game. Firstly, not scoring enough runs on the board and we would have liked to have taken a few wickets and at least put up a bit more of a fight in the second innings.

“But with a game in two days’ time, we’re going to have to get things back together quickly and pick up the pieces and go again,” Matthews said.

And while she admitted that the hot conditions were challenging, she said the Windies had not adjusted well.

“It’s pretty hot here in Dubai. I’d probably have to say the hottest place I’ve ever played cricket or even been and that’s someone coming from the West Indies.

“It’s definitely been some difficult conditions. We’ve been here for about two weeks thankfully and we’ve been able to acclimatise as much as we possibly can to conditions like this,” Matthews said.

“I think we came down here expecting some pretty good wickets. We’ve camped here quite a bit, when we went to Pakistan in April, and we tend to spend some time down here training, so we knew what the ICC Academy grounds were like and those were pretty decent wickets early.

“It wasn’t a bad wicket today. South Africa showed you can really bat on a wicket like that and even us in parts. Stafanie Taylor was able to take charge of the game as well throughout the middle.

“I don’t think the conditions surprised us too much. We probably just didn’t adapt to them as well today,” the skipper added.

Matthews also addressed some injury concerns regarding Zaida James, who was hit in the face and Taylor, who appeared to be cramping and had difficulty running between the wickets.

She said while she could not comment on Taylor’s health, she said she hoped James would recover in time for their next match against Scotland on Sunday.