Drakes: All is not lost after Windies Women defeat

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, CMC- Head coach of West Indies women Vasbert Drakes says all is not lost after the regional side was outplayed by Sri Lanka in the second One Day International (ODI) of a four match series at the R Premadasa Stadium on Friday.

Vasbert Drakes
Vasbert Drakes

The Windies women lost by six wickets as Sri Lanka levelled the series one all after losing the opening fixture earlier in the week.

Drakes also said his side entered the match with confidence, but failed to execute on the day.

“Coming into the game we thought we would have covered our base and everyone was pretty comfortable,” said Drakes.

“Unfortunately we did not execute as a unit consistently in any of the departments so consequently we allowed them to control more of the game than we did. Obviously, the most important thing is not to dwell too much on it”.

The Windies Women were dismissed for 124 in 42.3 overs after they chose to bat, with Shashikala Siriwardene undermining their batting with figures of 4-30 from 9.3 overs.

None of the Windies Women’s bowlers could make a big impact and Siriwardene guided the home team to victory, leading the way with an unbeaten 42 from 72 deliveries that included just a couple of boundaries.

Merissa Aguilleira
Merissa Aguilleira

“We know where we are at, we have reflected and we know we have some work to do,” said Drakes.

“All is not lost we have two games left so it is important that we win those two games and move up the rankings .The main objective is to assess the areas that we fall short on”.

Drakes said his side failed to adapt to the conditions.

“There is a little bit of dryness on the surface and I think if you are going to be coming to the sub-continent you are not going to be expecting Sri Lanka to do you any favours,” he said.

“So we were very mindful of the fact that if we have to bat we have to set a target that we could defend. If you do not take wickets up front with the new ball we can always be playing catch up cricket. So that’s the area that we really felt short in and that is the area that we have to be looking to improve on “.

The match was the first of three between the two sides in the ICC Women’s Championship and the Sri Lankans drew first blood and earned valuable points.

Both teams have played seven matches in the Championship – the Windies Women currently have 6 points and are one point ahead of the Sri Lankan Women on the points table.