The West Indies captain Hayley Matthews expressed pride and joy for their team’s performance in the women’s T20 World Cup 2024 as they reached the semi-finals after beating England in their last group stage matches.
West Indies faced a must-win situation when they faced an unbeaten England team in the last group phase game where they secured a six-wicket win chasing the target of 142 in 18 overs.
Adding their win against England, West Indies registered 13 straight wins against them in T20I since 2019. Despite their being confident in reaching the semi-finals, their 10-wicket defeat in the opener match against South Africa has made the situation difficult.
Hayley Matthew said, “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.
The pack shuffles after West Indies’ incredible win in the final match to top Group B 👊
How it happened➡️ https://t.co/rCN0fVKoWL#WhateverItTakes pic.twitter.com/zzd6pCtEeB
— ICC (@ICC) October 16, 2024
“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 just shows what we can do as a West Indian team.”
“I think a lot of people coming up against us know that if it is one thing we’ve got, it’s a lot of hearts and a lot of fights. And we just showed that today,” she said.
“I think it’s been a lot of sacrifice to be fair. I go away and I play in franchise cricket a lot, so I am not doing the hard yards in the Caribbean as much as the other girls are.”
“But I’ve seen these girls play against Pakistan and play against Sri Lanka and then be in camp for a month and then go straight to CPL and then have like a week or two home and come here.
“There’s so many different islands as well, we have to be away from home, I have to be away from our country. We usually camp in Antigua and there’s not a single person from our team that lives in Antigua.”
“So I think the sacrifice that the girls have put in is showing now and I guess that’s what makes it or makes me even more proud just seeing the way that they sacrifice but are now reaping the rewards from it as well,” said Matthews.
“I think, honestly speaking, we probably just don’t have it like the rest a lot of the time.”
“Back home in the Caribbean sometimes we don’t have facilities and a lot of our girls come from very humble beginnings and to be given this opportunity to come out, represent your nation, and make a living out of it, I think (for) every single person, it changes their lives,” she added.
With the victory of the West Indies women, South African women also qualified for the semi-finals. West Indies women will be facing New Zealand women in the second semi-finals of the tournament on October 18 at Sharjah Cricket Stadium.
