SYDNEY, Australia, CMC – West Indies Women’s captain Hayley Matthews said the responsibility that comes with the role and her exposure to franchise cricket over the past couple of years were critical factors in the improvements to her batting.
The 25-year-old all-rounder hammered an incredible 132, and her side pulled off the highest successful run chase of all-time in women’s Twenty20 Internationals against hosts, world No. 1 and world champions Australia Women on Monday.
Matthews smashed 20 fours and five sixes from 64 balls in a breath-taking assault on the Australian bowling, and the Caribbean side successfully chased 213 to secure a seven-wicket win in the second T20I at North Sydney Oval to level the three-match series 1-1.
“Today was quite incredible,” Matthews told reporters at the post-play news conference. “I can’t quite find the words yet, but I don’t think many days of cricket have beaten that.”
Her batting performance came after she took three for 36 from her allotted four overs with her off-spin while Australia Women piled up 212 for six after they were put into bat, and it made her a shoo-in for a seventh straight Player-of-the-Match award in T20s.
Matthews made an unbeaten 99 in the first T20I, which her side lost by eight wickets on Sunday at the same venue, but she made sure that she did not miss out at the second time of asking with her dynamic second T20I hundred.
“The team’s leadership has helped me to take responsibility for my game, along with learning and understanding my game a lot more from playing franchise and T20 cricket on the road,” she added.
“Two of those put together over the last 12 months have helped, not only with me scoring runs but consistently scoring them.”
She said: “I speak about trying to lead by example, and I think it’s something growing up I watched Stafanie do while I was playing with her in my younger days.
“Since I’ve taken over the role, I’ve tried to emulate that, take responsibility, and set a perfect example for the young girls.”
Taylor made 59 from 41 balls, and Matthews combined with her predecessor as West Indies captain for a record 174-run partnership for the second wicket. At the same time, the Australians were left to rue a couple of dropped chances during the run chase just when the two batting stalwarts for the visitors started to believe.
“Steph and I started to look at chasing it when I think we needed 105 from 54 balls,” she said. “At that moment, with our momentum, we spoke about trying to go as hard as possible from both ends with the wickets we had.
“Kudos to her as well. She had an amazing knock at the other end. It took so much pressure off me and kept the boundaries flowing.”
Taylor was dismissed with 28 needed from 18 balls to give Australia a sliver of hope, and Matthews fell with nine needed off seven balls. Still, Chinelle Henry and Shemaine Campbelle stuck around to formalize the result with one ball remaining.
“It was a very long day,” Matthews said. “After getting so close to a score, chasing 212 doesn’t come every day, especially for our team. You want to get over that line.
“I had all faith in Shemaine and Chin. They experienced, they’ve been around the circuit for a long time and have been coming into their own of late, so I had no doubt.”
The final T20I of the series is on Thursday at Allan Border Field in Brisbane.
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