Windies' Matthews: More partnerships needed for 2nd ODI

WEST Indies women’s captain Hayley Matthews is calling for more partnerships in the second One Day International against England at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua on Tuesday. The match bowls off at 2 pm.

In the first ODI on Sunday, England Women posted a competitive 307/7 in 50 overs, with Natalie Sciver scoring 90. Medium pacer Chinelle Henry was the best bowler for West Indies grabbing 3/59 in ten overs.

In reply, West Indies were dismissed for 165 in 40.3 overs. Kycia Knight was the top batter for West Indies, hitting 39, and Charlie Dean was the most successful bowler for England, taking 4/35 in nine overs.

After Aaliyah Alleyne fell for two and Matthews was forced to leave the field because of cramp, Knight and Rashada Williams put on 70 runs for West Indies for the second wicket. When Williams fell for 34, there were no other partnerships of note, and West Indies just got past 150.

Matthews, who commended Knight and Williams for their effort, said more partnerships are needed on Tuesday.

“The two of them really went out there and batted and built a really nice partnership, which was good to see. If we could get a couple more of those going for the next couple games, I guess it will see us putting down some better performances.”

Matthews felt the wicket was suitable for batting, but said West Indies needed to limit the runs England scored.

“We would have hoped to restrict England to a bit less than we did on a decent (batting) wicket, and I guess with the same decent wicket we would have liked to score a bit more runs. So a lot of learning for us. Just looking to go back to the drawing board and see what we can improve on in the next game,” Matthews said.

England were 127/4 in the 24th over, before a 103-run partnership between Sciver and Danni Wyatt helped the visitors recover and eventually post more than 300.

On the response by England, Matthews said, “I think our power play was definitely pretty good, getting a couple early and quick wickets as well…through the middle overs, partnerships were built, and I think they just continued to build a bit, and we weren’t able to get the breakthrough, and probably let a bit too many runs by as well. Areas we can definitely improve on and hopefully we can, quickly.”