Ahead of their second women’s T20 World Cup encounter against Scotland on Sunday, where they will want to restart their campaign, the West Indies are awaiting details on the injuries of a few important players.
When opening bowler Zaida James attempted a return catch off Laura Wolvaardt, the ball deflected off her hand and into her face, further deteriorating a ten-wicket loss to South Africa in Dubai on Friday. South Africa started their chase of 119 with 13 balls remaining, and it was the opening ball of the second over.
It turned out that she had been experiencing knee pain.
“Zaida, yes, I understand that it was essentially a slap on the face,” West Indies captain Hayley Matthews stated just after the game. “I believe the seam may have caught her face, causing some pain and little swelling around her jaw.
It appeared that a number of other athletes were having difficulty with the extreme heat in Dubai, when the mercury reached 38°C.
Matthews said, “It’s getting pretty hot here.” “It’s arguably the hottest location I’ve ever gone or played cricket, and that comes from someone from the West Indies, I must add. There are undoubtedly challenging conditions, but fortunately, we have been here for two weeks and have had the opportunity to acclimate as best we can to such circumstances. Thankfully we’ve got the remainder of our games as night ones so I hope not as much sun.”
Matthews remarked, “We came down here probably expecting some pretty good wickets,” in reference to the surface, on which the West Indies toiled virtually the entire way through their innings. We trained here frequently and tented here before our April trip to Pakistan, so we were familiar with the ICC Academy grounds. Those were some really good wickets early on, so that’s what we’re anticipating.
I don’t believe the circumstances startled us too much; we probably simply didn’t adjust to them as effectively. Stafanie Taylor was able to really take hold of the game in the middle.”
Taylor was instrumental in the West Indies mounting a resistance against Nonkululeko Mlaba’s career-best 4 for 29, after both Matthews and Deandra Dottin fell cheaply, for 10 and 13 respectively, to Marizanne Kapp within the first seven overs.
About Taylor, Matthews remarked, “She’s a huge part of us and she has been to West Indies cricket since 2008.”
“I think it was fantastic that she could go out there and stand up and put her hand up when we were in danger because I think she still has a lot of people who doubted her after the previous several years. Once more, the weather is obviously rather hot, so it was difficult to see her struggle out there.
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