ICC Women’s T20 World Cup: Ashleigh Gardner says Australia must be wary of West Indies captain Hayley Matthews’ power in semi-final | Cricket news
Ashleigh Gardner says Australia must be wary of a dangerous West Indies side featuring Hayley Matthews and Deandra Dottin as they prepare for the first semi-final of the ICC Womens T20 World Cup at The Oval on Tuesday, live on Sky Sports.
Six-time champions Australia are favorites to progress to Sunday’s final after topping Group 1, winning all five of their matches, while West Indies’ path to the last four has been a bit bumpy.
They narrowly missed out on a place in the semi-finals after a six-wicket loss against Ireland, opening the way for New Zealand to score points. In the end, West Indies were given a lifeline by England’s Danni Wyatt-Hodge, who produced a stunning knock in the final Group 2 match to knock the White Ferns out of the competition and beat Matthews’ side.
Australia and the West Indies are regular rivals, with Gardner’s captain’s side having won the T20I and ODI series against Matthews’ side in March and April, before they faced each other in a warm-up match.
Gardner knows the destructive power that Matthews and Dottin have with the bat, even if both players have struggled to score runs so far during the tournament.
“The West Indies are a completely different threat [to India]. “They have a lot of quality and a lot of energy in their team,” Gardner said.
“They have a lot of experience as well, obviously led brilliantly by Matthews, who is a player who can take the game away quickly. But when you look at someone like Dottin, he is dangerous in all three phases of the game.
Dottin (right) also struggled with the bat, racking up 72 runs in five World Cup innings.
“He’s an amazing player. I’ve had the privilege of playing with him, and I see the way he goes about his cricket, he’s fearless in the way he approaches it, which is sometimes very scary because he can flip a switch very quickly.”
Matthews produced 48 off 37 deliveries to help his side beat defending champions New Zealand by seven wickets in the tournament opener.
It was his highest score so far in the World Cup, and the West Indies captain followed that up with scores of 14, 17, 14 and 22 in his next four matches.
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Dottin has also faced the cane. His highest score during the tournament, aged 21, was in a loss to Ireland, with Dottin making 72 runs in five innings during the tournament.
However, Matthews knows his team must step up if they are to repeat what they did in 2016, when the West Indies beat Australia in the final to win the T20 World Cup.
“We’re going to need big plays from the big players. I think we’re going to need individual performances,” Matthews said.
“But I think to beat a team like Australia, you still need more than one player, and we will have to have our best players step up.
“I feel like players like Aaliyah Alleyne, Jahzara Claxton, played a big role throughout the tournament. And I think with our stars and players like them playing a big role, we’re going to have to put together a well-rounded game as a team.
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“We haven’t had our best game yet. We haven’t had the likes of myself or Deandra Dottin in runs really. And that leaves a lot of room for improvement as a team. So hopefully we can see some of us step up a little bit and take it to the Aussies.”
Matthews has a good scoring record against Australia in the T20I format. He scored the most runs (507) against Australia by any opposition player in the T20I format, especially giving Australia nightmares in Sydney 2023, when he scored his highest T20 score of 132 off 64 runs, helping his team to a 213-run chase.
Ellyse Perry also featured in the 2016 World Cup final against the West Indies, where Matthews produced a man-of-the-match performance, scoring 66 runs off 45 balls, while Dottin also took figures of 2-33.
The Australian all-rounder is keen to focus on what lies ahead, instead of reliving the heartache of 2016.
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“We don’t want that kind of bad juju,” Perry said. “I mean, what is that, 10 years ago? The game has changed so much in that time. And I think you can’t even take things out of the past because it’s crazy how sports work.
“We’ve played a lot against each other over the last few months. We actually had a tour of the West Indies earlier this year. We played against each other in a warm-up game, so we’re pretty familiar with each other now.
“They have incredibly talented and dangerous players with a lot of experience. So it’s going to be a big challenge for us. It’s a quick change and it’s in a different place, so I think we’re looking forward to it.”
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