West Indies vice-captain Chinelle Henry has pointed to the team’s bowling in the power play as a key area needing improvement, even as the side maintains a perfect record at the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup.
After a tense seven-run victory over Scotland in Leeds on Thursday, West Indies made it two wins from two, staying unbeaten in the group stage. The result keeps them firmly in contention in Group B, where they sit second behind England on net run rate, with both teams yet to drop a game.
Despite the winning momentum, Henry was frank about where the team must tighten up ahead of sterner tests.
West Indies now turn their attention to Sri Lanka in their third group fixture on Sunday in Bristol.
“Winning two games, that’s always a plus and that has put us in a really good spot in our group. As we said, there’s no easy game in this tournament; it doesn’t matter. So it’s just about going back to that drawing board,” Henry said. “We just have to assess those first six overs as a bowling group and see how best we could figure out, to get out of those overs better. But as I said, the group has been playing really well and we just got to keep backing our skills and keep trusting each other.”
Henry believes the tournament will be one of the most competitive ever, and says each team is fighting, so it’s not easy to make any victory predictions. The all rounder was cleared to play against Scotland after missing West Indies opening game due to an injury sustained during the team’s final warm game.
“I think that decision is just down to the medical staff and the team, and everybody just came to the decision today that I was fit enough to play, and that’s all that is. So it’s just game by game and see how it goes,” she said.
While victory against Sri Lanka would put West Indies in a strong position to qualify for the semis, Henry maintains that they will continue to have a pragmatic approach.
“Again, this table is completely blown open, wide open. So it’s just about trying to win all of our games, not leaving anything to chance. I mean, we saw how Scotland came at us pretty hard. It’s just about trying to take each game one at a time and trying to play our best cricket every time we step out on the park,” Henry stated.
(KH)
