Mohammed: Loss of Nation, Taylor affects Windies batting in 3rd ODI

THE LOSS of Chadean Nation and captain Stafanie Taylor, to on-field injuries, affected the batting of the West Indies Women in their third One Day International (ODI) against South Africa Women on Thursday. So said West Indies Women vice-captain Anisa Mohammed, after the team’s 96-run defeat, in the penultimate match of the four-game series.

Nation suffered a shoulder injury during the South Africa Women’s innings; the hosts posted a score of 299 runs for eight wickets, batting first, at Johannesburg.

And Taylor was replaced by Aaliyah Alleyne as a concussion substitute after she was struck a blow to her helmet by a Nadine de Klerk bouncer. The WI Women were dismissed for 203 in reply, off 44.4 overs.

Mohammed, during the post-game media briefing, said, “I think South Africa scored probably 40 (to) 50 runs too many. They scored 299 and then we lost Taylor and Nation. That was crucial.”

The veteran off-spinner added, “They are two of our main batters and, having lost them, I think if we had (them) we would have probably gone closer to the score, or even winning the game.”

The first ODI last Friday ended in a no-result, while the WI Women won the second game on Monday, via the one-over eliminator. The final game is carded for Sunday. All four matches are being contested, behind closed doors, in Johannesburg.

Mohammed said that the confidence is still high in the WI team, despite the setbacks the team faced on Thursday.

“As West Indians, we like to have things exciting but we have a lot of game-changers in our team, and we’re hoping that on Sunday, we can come out and play our best cricket,” said Mohammed.

However, the team’s vice-captain pinpointed fielding and bowling as areas of concern.

She said, “I think today was one of the worst days we’ve had in quite a while (in the field). We definitely need to tighten up on our fielding.

“Also, I think we need to bowl in better areas, especially when the batters are coming so hard at us. We have a couple days. We’re going to try to reassess what we did wrong today and come back on Sunday.”

The South Africa Women innings revolved around a knock of 117 from opener Laura Wolvaardt.

“I think she played a really good innings,” Mohammed said. “She was patient at the start and that’s something we’ll want to see some of our batters doing. She didn’t give us any chances, she played a really good innings and I just hope one of our batters would be able to do the same on Sunday.”