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WEST Indies Women’s assistant coach Robert Samuels is hopeful the team are not deflated after falling to a heavy defeat against India in their third match at the 2022 International Cricket Council Women’s World Cup, on Saturday.
West Indies were aiming for their third consecutive win after starting the tournament with back-to-back victories against hosts New Zealand and defending champions England.
India scored a massive 317/8 in 50 overs batting first with Smriti Mandhana scoring 123 and Harmanpreet Kaur lashing 109.
In reply, despite an opening partnership of 100 between Deandra Dottin and Hayley Matthews inside 13 overs, the West Indies were all out for 162 in 40.3 overs.
West Indies will aim to rebound against Australia in their next match at Wellington, on Monday, at 6 pm.
Australia have won both of their matches to start the tournament.
“A defeat is not a good thing, especially a defeat of this magnitude,” Samuels said following the loss to India.
“I am hoping that it will not affect the team too much. Teams have to learn how to bounce back from defeat because it is the nature of sports and we will see moving forward how the ladies handle themselves.”
Samuels said India are the number two ranked team in ODI (One Day International) cricket and teams highly ranked like them are “no joke.”
“Moving forward we just need a little bit of time to re-group, see where we went wrong, see what we have to do, how we have to go about playing the number one team (Australia).”
Samuels pointed to the West Indies poor bowling effort as one of the reasons the team fell to a humiliating defeat.
“We did not bowl well…most of the bowlers did not come to the party (on Saturday).”
Samuels, who is uncertain if there would be changes in the next match, said the players may have been too relaxed heading into the contest against India.
“Head coach Courtney Walsh is always talking about complacency and I think we were a little bit complacent (on Saturday).”
West Indies women’s captain Stafanie Taylor, one of the best batters in the world, has not set the tournament on fire with scores of 30, duck and one.
Discussing Taylor’s form, Samuels said, “Stafanie is the best of the best that we have…she not scoring runs in a World Cup setting or any setting…is a concern.”
He expects her to deliver at some point during the tournament.
“We are hoping that she hit her straps soon and she could help with the good things that we have been doing in the batting. It is a major concern, but it’s not too much of a concern.”
West Indies will need to finish in the top four among the eight teams to qualify for the semifinals. The preliminary phase is being played in a round robin format.
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