West Indies Women head coach Courtney Walsh says one of the key things he will be looking for in the upcoming series against New Zealand Women is how the squad works with recently-appointed captain Hayley Matthews.
The 24-year-old Barbadian took over in June as skipper from Stafanie Taylor, who was at the helm for seven years, and the three ODIs and five T20Is starting next month will be her first assignment as the new captain.
“We have to give her all the support,” Walsh said in a brief interview with CWI media.
“It’s just going to be interesting to see how everybody responds to the new captain, to the new ideas that we have, and to sort of get back into playing competitive cricket.
“We have probably two, two and a half tours before the next T20 World Cup, so I think it’s very, very important that we start planning and trying at getting things sorted for that,” he added.
Walsh said, however, that he would have liked to see the women in action more this year before the upcoming series – the ODIs running from September 16-21 and the T20Is from September 26 to October.
He also lamented that the squad for the series would have to be chosen before the Women’s Caribbean Premier League (WCPL), scheduled for August 31 to September 4, is concluded.
“I would have loved to have a touch more cricket, if I’m going to be brutally honest. The thing is that we’ll have to start picking the squad before the CPL is concluded, but we have a chance at looking at players that we can bring in,” Walsh said.
“But in an ideal world I would have loved for CPL to be finished before we go into the New Zealand series, so we could have judged them from CPL and then take them into the series, but that’s not the case. So we’ll have to pick from what we have and look at the combinations that we have to suit us best.
“But the good thing about CPL being involved is that it will give us a chance of seeing some more players play, more exposure, and then obviously if there are any injuries or any replacements that we might need, depending on how the series is going, we can always bring them in,” he added.
As for the series itself, the head coach said he is looking forward to another comprehensive series.
“Obviously, we want to win, we want to win every series that we play and that’s the only way we’re gonna rise and get above. So I want it to be competitive. Once the girls give 100 per cent and we’re satisfied with that then we can always look at where we can improve as well,” Courtney Walsh said.
West Indies Women are set to host New Zealand Women for the first time in eight years, with all games to be played at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua.
“They’ll be obviously coming here to play good cricket as well. It’s a very good team. They’re ranked above us, so I think it will be a good test for us.”
