CRICKET-WOMEN-Teenaged debutants the bright sparks, says skipper Matthews.

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, West Indies Women’s captain, Hayley Matthews, says the emergence of young players was one bright spark amid the gloom of another series whitewash at the hands of powerhouses England Women.

The hosts suffered an eight-wicket crushing in the final Twenty20 International here last Thursday, to crash to a 5-0 series defeat, coming on the heels of a 3-0 loss in the One-Day International series earlier this month.

With key players like former captain Stafanie Taylor and the experienced bowling trio of Anisa Mohammed, Shakera Selman, and Shamilia Connell all missing, the home side was forced to debut the West Indies Under-19 duo of Djenaba Joseph and Trishan Holder, along with 25-year-old Kasia Schultz.

And Matthews believes the move was an investment in the future.

“We would’ve had a couple of injuries throughout this series – missing so many of our experienced players,” Matthews said.

“So yeah, the results didn’t go our way, but at the same time, I think it was perfect that we were able to get young players playing and getting experience so that when the more experienced players are back, we can build a solid core along with the youth as well.”

She added: “It’s perfect to see. They’re very young players at the Under-19 level, so it was perfect to have them amongst the group and learn as much as possible.”

West Indies Women struggled throughout the series, the final match summing up their misery when they were dismissed cheaply for 43 in the 17th over after choosing to bat first at Kensington Oval.

Overall, the hosts found themselves short in all key departments, but it was essential to extract the small positives.

“I think what we can do is look at the positives that can come out of this series,” the 24-year-old all-rounder noted.

“We showed perfect intent with the bat in a couple of games, which we can look at and hopefully try to replicate a bit more often. We saw improvements and some bright sparks with the ball with certain players.

“There’s still a lot we can take out of this series and have a nice Christmas and hopefully come back in January ready to play some good cricket.”