‘We’re going to focus on finishing well’ - WI Women’s World Cup hopes dangling after Pakistan loss

LAHORE, Pakistan:

With West Indies Women's chances of qualifying for the 2025 ICC Women's World Cup hanging by a thread, head coach Shane Deitz has admitted that the regional side has been a disappointment at the tournament so far.

West Indies Women fell to their second defeat in three matches at the World Cup Qualifiers yesterday, when they went down to Pakistan Women by 65 runs.

The result followed their opening-round loss to minnows Scotland, and a tense six-run victory over Ireland.

It left them on just two points and with only two matches remaining, needing a miracle to finish as one of the top two teams to book an automatic qualification spot to the World Cup, scheduled to begin in India in September.

Speaking to the media following the defeat, Deitz said the results thus far had been very disappointing.

"Obviously, now we have to recover. We have two big games to come, train well in a couple days and come out fighting hard in our last two games. Anything can happen, cricket is a funny game.

"We're just going to focus on finishing well and playing some really good cricket and giving our fans something to cheer about, because, obviously, we've let them down, we've let ourselves down and let all of our fans in the Caribbean down, which is real disappointing," Deitz said.

RESTRICT PAKISTAN

West Indies Women did well to restrict the home side to 191 in 49.5 overs, after Pakistan Women won the toss and chose to bat at the Gaddafi Stadium.

However, they never recovered from losing captain and star player Hayley Matthews to the first ball of their run chase, and were eventually bowled out for 126 in 39.2 overs.

Needing a win to boost their chances of qualifying after their opening loss to Scotland, West Indies Women started brightly, with Matthews dismissing Gull Feroza early on to leave Pakistan six for one.

Opener Muneeba Ali (33), Sidra Amin (54) and Aliya Riyaz (20) consolidated their team's position, albeit at a slow rate, to see them progress to 132 for three in the 37th over.

Amin, who was named Player-of-the-Match, was the backbone of the innings, with her knock coming off 94 balls and containing four boundaries.

However, Pakistan lost their way after spinner Afy Fletcher dismissed Omaima Sohail, losing their last seven wickets for 59 runs.

Matthews was the Windies' best bowler with 2-30, while Fletcher (2-39) and Karishma Ramharack (2-55) also took two wickets.

NIGHTMARE START

West Indies Women then suffered a nightmare start when Matthews was trapped lbw with the very first ball of the innings.

It was a position they would not recover from, with needless run outs accounting for the wickets of Shemaine Campbelle and Zaida James soon after to leave the Windies Women 29 for three.

Jannillea Glasgow (18), Chinelle Henry (14), Stafanie Taylor (17) and Shabika Gajnabi (21) all got starts but failed to carry on as West Indies Women slumped to 97 for seven in the face of disciplined bowling by Sana.

Aaliyah Alleyne, who topscored with 22, tried her best to revive the innings, but it was not to be as Rameen Shamim and Nashra Sandu each grabbed two wickets to bring the contest to an end.

Sana ended with figures of 3-16, while Shamim took 2-26 and Sandhu 2-31.

West Indies Women currently sit fourth in the six-team standings, behind unbeaten Pakistan on six points and Bangladesh and Scotland on four points each.

While Deitz acknowledged that the regional side would need some luck to qualify, he said they have not yet given up hope and are focused on winning their final two games against Bangladesh and Thailand.

FIGHT BACK

"We're going to fight back and the only way to do it is to train hard, get together and stick together as a team and come out fighting these last two games.

"Hopefully a few things go our way. A miracle can happen, but all we can do is play well these last few games and finish this tournament well and then regroup and see where we go from there," Deitz said.

West Indies Women will next play Bangladesh on Thursday.

- CMC