Windies Women in do-or-die clash

KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC – West Indies Women will seek to avoid a series loss to England Women, when the two teams face off in the pivotal fourth One-Day International at Sabina Park here today.

The hosts trail 1-2 in the series after losing the opening game at the Trelawny Multi-Purpose Stadium by five runs and then falling to a heavy 112-run defeat in Friday’s third ODI at Sabina Park.

Their only victory was a dramatic 38-run victory in the second ODI at Trelawny and they now face the task of having to win the remaining two games, in order to take the series.

Assistant coach Ezra Moseley said the Windies Women were aware of where they had gone wrong in their last outing and were confident they could level the series.

“If history is anything to go by, we should bounce back tomorrow. It seems as though we like to come from behind and we’ve been doing that a lot in the past and hopefully tomorrow we can bounce back,” the former West Indies seamer said.

“The pitch is obviously going to be another good pitch to bat on so I’m expecting our batters to come to the party.”

He added: “The players have realised the mistakes they made … especially in the field. We dropped a few catches and I thought we allowed the English to run too many twos to us. I think that’s an area we have to improve on.

“I thought the bowlers bowled well up front and then for 20 overs we went to sleep a little bit and then at the end I thought we came back into the game where we stuck to the old adage of full and straight.”

The major failing in the last game was the home side’s batting. They were bundled out for a paltry 108 in pursuit of 221 on a good surface, with only three batsmen reaching double figures and two passing 20.

In the opening ODI, the Windies Women failed to chase down 150 and could only muster 148 in the second game but Moseley said the side had the ability to post strong totals.

“They have realised the mistakes they made … and are very keen to go out tomorrow and do better,” Moseley said.

“Let’s hope they can go out and hit their straps because the last time we played here against New Zealand we chased down 243 and we did it quite comfortably so hopefully tomorrow we can put some runs on the tins if we bat first and I expect our bowlers to go out and defend it.

“On the other hand, if we bowl first, I’m hoping we see a better bowling performance for a full 50 overs.”

Moseley also stressed that any enhanced batting performance would require better rotation of strike from his side.

“One of the main areas of concern is that we have to rotate the strike a lot more, that is something that we have been preaching for a long time,” he explained.