West Indies Women’s cricket head coach Shane Deitz has voiced his concerns over the team’s batting capabilities ahead of next month’s ICC Women’s T20 World Cup qualifiers. Speaking at a press conference yesterday, the Australian coach pointed to the underwhelming batting displays in the recently concluded Super50 tournament as a major area of worry.
“I think that the main thing that’s standing out to me was the batting and the lack of scores, the low strike rates, no big hundreds made by anyone in the whole tournament. So, the batting side of it and particularly playing against spin bowling is a bit of a concern moving forward,” Deitz admitted.
His concerns are further compounded by the fact that their upcoming opposition — Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Thailand—are likely to rely heavily on spin bowling.
“We just played a series against Bangladesh where they pretty much only bowled spin to us, and we’re going to qualifiers where Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Thailand will be bowling 90 to 95 per cent spin bowling to us. So, this is something we’ve got to work on moving forward,” he added.
Confidence
Despite his apprehensions, Deitz maintained confidence in the squad’s ability to perform well, referencing recent encounters against Bangladesh and Pakistan. He also spoke of bridging the gap between regional and international cricket, revealing that upcoming training camps would aim to integrate fringe players into the senior team to ensure they are better prepared for the international stage.
The coach was also firm in his approach to team selection, closing the door on the international careers of the Knight twins: Kycia and Kyshona. They were key performers for Barbados during their run to the final as he looks to develop the next generation of players.
Positive reports
On the positive side, Deitz praised players such as Chinelle Henry and Qiana Joseph for their development. Henry’s performances in the Women’s Premier League (WPL) caught his attention, while hardhitting
opener Joseph is likely to be fit despite awaiting official confirmation on the status of her injury ahead of the qualifiers.
“Yeah, she got a scan done and the official results are not quite back yet, but all positive reports that you know, she should be ready for the qualifiers,” he said.
Since taking charge, Deitz has overseen improvements in the team’s ability to post competitive totals, citing two of the highestever T20I scores by the West Indies Women. However, he reiterated that if the team is to challenge the world’s best, more players must rise to the occasion, rather than relying on captain Hayley Matthews and all-rounder Deandra Dottin.
“There’s no football team that Lionel Messi plays in that’s not relying on him to do well all the time. So that’s just par for the course of being a great player. But,as I said, our job is to get more players playing at that level and my job is to try and allow the players to be able to perform at that level. Those two love the pressure.
“They want to win every game for the West Indies, so it’s hard to take responsibility away from them. And the great players will always be the dominant players in each team, so we’re just going to keep our players supporting them. If they don’t play well, other players have got to be able to step up into those roles and have match-winning performances, which a couple did at that last World Cup.”
The Women in Maroon will compete against Bangladesh, Ireland, Scotland, and Thailand as well as host Pakistan in the qualifiers with the finalists in the event joining the top six teams of the ICC Women’s Championship 2022-25 for the eight-team World Cup.
“There’s no football team that Lionel Messi plays in that’s not relying on him to do well all the time. So that’s just par for the course of being a great player. ” (JC)
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