DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, CMC – West Indies Women’s captain Hayley Matthews says her teammates showed tremendous heart and grit in defeating England to qualify for tTuesday’ssemifinals of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup
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 favorites, eliminating them from the competition.
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 on Friday for a spot in Sunday’s final.
Matthews said she was incredibly proud of the Caribbean side’s progress in the tournament since their embarrassing opening-round loss to South Africa, in which they lost by ten wickets.
“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 shows what we can do as a West Indian team. I think many 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 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 perfect start. She has amazing hand-eye coordination, and I think she is a dangerous player when you come in her half on a good wicket.”
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