Hayley Matthews is an exceptional talent.
Why though does it seem to be near impossible for the regional system to produce at least two or three other players of decent enough calibre to make the West Indies senior women’s team truly competitive once again?
If we were in any doubt about the extent of the malaise which enveloped women’s cricket in the Caribbean post the historic 2016 World T20 triumph in India, the past week in Australia has exposed in the most graphic detail the depth of the challenge facing new head coach Shane Deitz.
But for Matthews’ 310 runs (average 155) in the T20 International series, the West Indies would have been swept aside 3-0. As it was, her outstanding 132 in the second match, together with the invaluable support of former captain Stafanie Taylor, saw the visitors completing a record chase in the second match before she fought a lone hand of 79 in vain, despite a leg injury, in the decider.
Then came the opening fixture of the One-Day International series yesterday, and with Matthews ruled out with that injury our worst fears were realised in the shape of an eight-wicket annihilation with 35, yes 35 overs to spare.
Yet it wasn’t just that the tourists’ batting line-up was demolished for just 83 off 27.3 overs, admittedly on a pitch helpful to the bowlers, but it seemed to be an unfair contest of experienced women versus clueless girls.
Deitz, an Australian who has previously worked with the national women’s teams of the Netherlands and the Pacific island nation of Vanuatu, must be wondering now what he has gotten himself into as so many of the batters looked completely at sea at Allan Border Field in Brisbane.
There wasn’t a run off the bat until the fifth over. No boundary was scored until the ninth over and that was an edge through the slips. Remember this is white ball cricket we are talking about not the attritional duel of a Test match, which West Indies women don’t play anymore, but that is another story.
Only Aaliyah Alleyne with 35 off 39 balls, batting at number seven, managed to get past 15. It was the same player who contributed 26 off 23 balls in the final match of the T20I series when the other nine players (Matthews’ 79 apart of course) combined for a paltry contribution of 33 runs. This time around the other ten players contributed 41 runs.
It is expected that the playing conditions will offer a bit more encouragement for the batters in the final two ODI’s on Wednesday and Saturday. However the evidence of the three T20’s and the opening ODI suggests that, whatever the conditions, most of the rest of the West Indies batting is just not up to elite international standard.
Ahead of this campaign, and having only seen the players he is now working with during the brief Women’s Caribbean Premier League, Deitz spoke optimistically, at least in his eyes, about the West Indies women playing “calypso cricket,” which he interpreted to be an attacking style with all the flair and panache of the region.
What he obviously doesn’t realise is that the “calypso cricket” tag is despised in these parts to the extent that West Indies men’s teams of the 1960’s to the ultra-dominating era of the 1980’s hated those external references to a calypso culture which was associated with a happy-go-lucky attitude to the game. In other words, “calypso cricket” is entertaining but reckless and inconsistent.
In any event, if his interpretation is different, fine. He could call it “callaloo cricket” or “ackee and saltfish cricket” for that matter and it wouldn’t make a difference to the real issue, which is that the West Indies women’s game continues to lag behind the highest international standards, much like their male counterparts, to the extent that we now have the embarrassing spectacle of a World Cup in India without the two-time winners.
Beyond the trivial labelling of the women’s game though is the fundamental concern over why the regional system is producing such a conveyor belt of mediocrity. Is it about fitness? Is it about the absence of a truly competitive environment where players with sub-standard numbers are allowed to remain in a West Indies team? Is it about the funding of the women’s game and the supporting infrastructure required to raise the overall standard?
Whatever it is, the fact remains that the West Indies women were once steadily moving up the ranks to the extent of crossing swords with the very best and more than holding their own.
Sadly, this is not the case anymore and if the men’s experience is anything to go by, the fear is that too many of the principals—the players—are already comfortable with ordinariness.
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