Windies Women should use England series to seek World Cup redemption – Hayley Matthews

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Windies Women opener Hayley Matthews believes the team should use the upcoming series against England to find redemption for their poor showing at the ICC T20 Women’s World Cup earlier this year.

At the World Cup, the West Indies Women, champions in 2016, failed to play to expectations, losing two of their four matches thus failing to advance from their Group B that contained Thailand, England, Pakistan and South Africa.

Matthews’ form was equally poor with scores of 16, 0, and 10 as the West Indies fell to Pakistan and England. Their match against South Africa was rained out. Their only win came against minnows, Thailand.

The Barbadian sees the coming England series as an opportunity for the team whose players are eager to set right the wrongs of February 2020.

“I think as a team we are going to want to come out here and redeem ourselves and be able to show that we are not the team that played that World Cup, that we are a lot better than that,” she said.

The 22-year-old all-rounder said the break that followed the World Cup debacle was a welcome one.

“It was a difficult World Cup. It was good that everyone got that mental break and had a look at what we weren’t doing so well,” she said during an online interview session on Monday from the United Kingdom where the team is preparing for their five-match T20 series that is set to begin on September 21.

On a personal level, Matthews said she used the time off to work on her game.

“I was able to get back in the nets and work really hard at my game, was able to sort out some stuff that I saw going wrong technically and hopefully I am able to go out and execute those skills that I have been working on over the past couple of months,” she said.

The team that arrived in England last week, has been preparing well, she said, and being in isolation has allowed the players to focus on their game and the series ahead.

“I think it’s been pretty comfortable. From the first day we came in we know what the protocols were. We were told and given everything we needed so it was just a matter of coming down here and getting into the training,” she said.

“(The conditions) are a bit helpful, kind of limits distractions and you get to focus on the cricket a bit more.”