WI Women coach says lessons learned in loss to Ireland

DUBLIN, Ireland (CMC) — Shane Deitz, West Indies Women’s head coach, believes his side learned some valuable lessons in their loss to Ireland Women on Monday that will serve them well in the upcoming ICC Women’s T20 World Cup.

Ireland won by one-run via the Duckworth/Lewis/Stern method in a rain-affected contest to register their first-ever T20I win over West Indies Women in 10 matches.

While Deitz admitted that he was disappointed with the result, he said the loss gave them a better idea of what plans to implement when they open their World Cup campaign against New Zealand Women on June 13.

“I think the main thing learning from this is what we usually do in the Caribbean and on Caribbean wickets and other parts of the world, what options we go to with the ball, or shots we play with the bat, might not work over here.

“So it’s good to go through that now and really get accustomed to these conditions so that when we are under pressure come World Cup, we’ll know what the best options to take are in each situation…because you don’t get a second chance at the World Cup,” Deitz said.

Speaking on his team’s performance against Ireland, he said despite the loss there were still some positives to take from the match.

Deitz said being able to deal with pressure would be critical at the World Cup.

“I think with the bat we were probably a bit short. The wicket didn’t play as good as it had been playing and we were probably about 20 runs short. But I think standing out with the bat, [Jannillea] Glasgow came in again and scrapped around and Zaida [James] came out and played some shots and showed that she can finish off an innings.

“We got two early wickets and we started well – that first over from [Shawnisha] Hector was brilliant – but then obviously [Orla] Prendergast came out and played a really good innings and put the pressure on us and at times our players didn’t react how they should react under pressure and that’s what’s going to be the big thing in this World Cup; how we act under pressure against really good players,” Deitz said.

DEITZ… it’s good to go through that now and really get accustomed to these conditions so that when we are under pressure come World Cup, we’ll know what the best options to take are in each situation