This is the first time in 25 years that the West Indies team has failed to appear in the Women's ODI World Cup.
The 13th edition of the Women’s ODI World Cup is all set to begin on September 30. But the marquee event will miss the West Indies this time around as eight top teams of the world will clash in 31 exciting fixtures to claim the ultimate title. However, the side’s skipper, Hayley Matthews, has shared her views on missing out on the qualification for the ICC Women’s World Cup 2025.
After a few early defeats in the ICC Women’s World Cup Qualifiers, the Women in Maroon found themselves in a tricky situation to seal a ticket to India for the upcoming ODI event. In the final fixture, they needed to chase the total of 166 posted by Thailand in just 10.1 overs to ensure qualification.
Captain Matthews had provided a whirlwind start to the innings with her 29-ball 70 at a blazing strike rate of 241.37. Qiana Joseph and Chinelle Henry also continued the fierce momentum with two blistering knocks of 26 and 48, respectively. But unfortunately, the side missed the qualification by the barest of margins as they took four balls more than the pre-calculated equation to chase down the target.
“We shed a few tears after the tournament was over, especially that last match against Thailand where we got so close. Missing it by the smallest amount was really disappointing. We knew we were not at our best during the tournament and that is the reason we didn’t qualify. But it’s still going to hurt when the tournament starts,” said Matthews to Hindustan Times.
Notably, this is the first time in 25 years that the West Indies team has failed to appear in the Women’s ODI World Cup. Following this, Matthews discussed the probable scopes of improvement and emphasised the crucial role of pacers in the squad. She spoke about how a few wickets from the seamers in the initial stage of the game help the side to gain an early advantage over the opposition.
“The key could be a really good opening bowling pair with pace. If you have dynamic pacers who can come out and take early wickets with the new ball, that’s going to make a big difference. Knowing that spin is probably going to be reliable, it’s those first few overs that will matter,” she added.
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The Women’s Caribbean Premier League (WCPL) 2025 has recently been concluded with the Barbados Royals’ third successive title victory. But captain Matthews, who led them to the previous two title wins, could not feature in this season due to a shoulder injury. Henry took on the leadership charges in her absence to continue the Royals’ dominance in the Caribbean T20 league.
“I have been playing without a major injury for the last 10 years but it’s a bit disappointing not being able to play. I would have loved to be a part of the CPL but the shoulder has been niggling. I head for surgery this week, and then I have about nine to 12 weeks out to kind of recover and get the shoulder right,” revealed the West Indies skipper.
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