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DESPITE the West Indies women’s team enduring a 3-0 T20 series whitewash at the hands of England on May 26, head coach Shane Deitz remains focused on building a squad capable of contending at next year’s ICC Women’s T20 World Cup.
Deitz acknowledged the harsh reality of the away result and believes there is much work to be done within the squad, particularly with his young charges.
Hayley Matthews’ lone heroics (71 runs from 58 balls) with the bat were not enough for the maroon to grab a consolation win as they were restricted to 127/8 in pursuit of England’s total of 144/5, in a rain-affected contest at Chelmsford.
“The results weren’t great but I thought today we fought really hard,” Deitz said following the final T20. “We had five girls 21 and under all playing major roles in the team, and they stepped up pretty well.”
Among the young standouts was international debutant Jahzara Claxton, whose poise with the ball earned praise from the coach.
“She’s a super talent. I told her, just go out and enjoy it, back yourself — you’ve got nothing to lose. I’m very proud of her, and she’s got a big future ahead.”
Despite the effort, Deitz stressed that the team remains short on experience and depth. With injuries to senior players like Stafanie Taylor and the ongoing reliance on star captain Matthews, the coach is calling for a broader pool of international-ready talent.
“We have a lot of work to do to get up to speed. Regional cricket is probably not where it should be but we’re improving on that. We’re going to bring players in and get them to the international level as quick as possible, which is difficult but, the attitude and hard training which we’re doing helps that.”
The Cricket West Indies Women’s T20 Blaze, the region’s premier tournament, recently ended with the majority of teams struggling to score a hundred runs.
“Hopefully, giving them opportunities and supporting them, try to guide them through, I think we got some talent coming. We’re missing a couple of big names. We need near 20 international players if we’re going to be competitive consistently, that’s what we’re aiming for and our long-term plan. We have to get players good enough to compete now, learn about the game, get better every day and come the T20 World Cup, we’ll be dangerous I think.”
Skipper Matthews made similar suggestions after losing the second T20. She was stern in her statements regarding the limited amount of domestic playing time for female cricketers in the region.
She said, “We’re asking girls who’ve probably played 30 to 40 domestic games in their life—if that much—to come and perform at the international stage. It’s always going to be hard for them (and also) hard to ask coaches as well, to come to this level and turn girls into magic, when we don’t have a proper system to come through a lot of the times.”
After the South Africa series, the Caribbean’s top and upcoming women cricketers gear up for the Women’s Caribbean Premier League T20 in July/August. They, however, will not feature in the ODI World Cup (September/October) in India, and Deitz is hoping to capitalise on this downtime to sharpen up his troops before they meet Sri Lanka in February 2026.
The coming months, he said, will be crucial in developing younger players through training, improvement, and international exposure.
“We’re going to bring players in and get them to the international level as quickly as possible. It’s not easy, but with attitude, hard training, and support, we can get there. Some players adapt quickly, some slowly — it’s different for everyone.”
Plans are underway to provide overseas playing opportunities and centralised training before a critical build-up period leading into the World Cup.
“We’re trying to get some players, maybe do Australia. We did that last year with four players going overseas to play some games. We got that until July/August before the WCPL and then maybe something after that we’re trying to work on, and then the big period after October to December, before we play Sri Lanka. It’s a really big period where we focus on skills, fitness and be ready for a big year next year.”
“From October to December, that’s going to be a massive time for us. We’re looking at skill development, fitness, and team cohesion so that when February rolls around and we face Sri Lanka, we’re ready.”
While he rues the series loss, Deitz remains upbeat ahead of the three-match ODI series against hosts England, bowling off from May 30 June 7.
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