Opening batter Matthews ready for England challenge

September 08, 2020
Windies cricketer Hayley Matthews
Windies cricketer Hayley Matthews

Windies Women's opening batter Hayley Matthews says the long lay-off from cricket because of the coronavirus pandemic has done the team a world of good heading into its series against England.

Matthews and the rest of the West Indies women's squad are now fine-tuning preparations for the restart of the international women's cricket calendar, which will feature five Twenty20 matches against hosts England in Derby.

The five-match series has replaced England's scheduled series against India and South Africa after both those teams were unavailable to travel because of COVID-19.

Matthews says the month's long lay-off from cricket would help the regional women to get over the disappointment of the ICC Twenty20 World Cup in March of this year, where the Windies failed to make it to the semifinals, having done so in the previous two editions.

"I think everyone just needed a mental reset, to be honest," she said. "It is really good that we were able to get that mental break and I think the girls are in high spirits now.

"The camp has been going really well and I can't wait to see how the rest of it goes before the games start."

It will be a tough ask for the Windies Women to come away with a positive result from the series against the world number two ranked England, who beat the Windies in their last competitive action at the World Cup this year.

In that game, Anisa Mohammed was one of the few bowlers to take a wicket, and Matthews spoke about Mohammed's absence on this particular tour.

"Unfortunately, Anisa is not going to be here," Matthews said. "She is one of our most experienced bowlers. She has been in the game for a lot of years but it's a case that we have a lot of bowlers in our side and I have no doubt that we have enough skill and talent to go out there and execute well and restrict the England batters when the games start."

Matthews says she has been putting in the work in the nets in Barbados, correcting some of her technical flaws which were exposed at the World Cup.

The team will continue to do more work under new interim coach Andre Coley, who will be assisted by former Windies fast bowler Corey Collymore and Guyana head coach Esuan Crandon.

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