DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, CMC – West Indies Women’s head coach, Shane Deitz believes that all the pressure will be on favourites England when they clash on Tuesday in their crucial Group B match of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup.
West Indies currently sit third in Group B, four points behind leaders England and South Africa, on six points. They know that anything other than a victory will see them eliminated from the tournament.
With only the two top teams from each group advancing to the semifinal, West Indies’ net run rate would be slightly worse than that of England and superior to that of South Africa if all three teams ended on six points.
Speaking in a pre-match press conference on Monday, Deitz said England was favored to top the group and would feel all the pressure.
“We’re excited for tomorrow and will play like we did during the last two games. England is a bit different task to Scotland and Bangladesh; they’re one of the best teams in the world, but we’re going to have the same attitude,” Deitz said.
“…I think all the pressure is probably on England. They’re the favorites to go through, probably the favorites from our pool from the very start, so there’s no pressure on us at all, which is excellent.
“We want to get in front early, put the pressure on them, play with our flair, and have some fun out there. We back ourselves and our skills to get over the line,” he added.
Deitz said that while the Windies’ opening-round loss to South Africa was regrettable, he was happy with the team’s response, which included two dominant wins over Scotland and Bangladesh.
He said the commanding manner in which they won those two matches had boosted their net run rate and put them in a position where a win over England would see them advance to the knockout round.
“It’s been a great experience for us, and it would have been great to have won the first game, but it has put us in a position where every game has been a grand final since then, and the girls to their credit, have attacked the opposition every time that they’ve played since,” Deitz said.
“It’s put us in a perfect position as we go into our last game… [and] we’re now in a position where our net run rate is pretty good
“A win should get us over the line; I know there’re a lot of calculations going on, but if we go out there and win the game, we should be fine, and that’s what we’re going to try and do,” he maintained.
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