West Indies Women suffered a 44-run defeat against South Africa Women in their first match of the T20I Tri-series at Buffalo Park in South Africa on Saturday.
The series features India Women, South Africa Women and West Indies Women and serves as a warm-up to the ICC Women’s World Cup which starts on February 10.
After suffering a whitewash in the five-match T20 series against England in November last year, West Indies struggled with the bat once again in a much-changed line-up, crumbling to 97-8 in their allotted 20 overs after restricting South Africa to a competitive score of 141-5.
West Indies Women have now lost each of their last ten T20Is with their last win coming on September 28 against New Zealand Women.
West Indies Women’s captain Hayley Matthews is adamant that the team must find a way to put more runs on the board after another disappointing showing at the crease, this time against South Africa in the tri-series on Saturday.
“It’s clear we don’t score enough runs. Not being able to put it together with big enough partnerships and get enough big scores, which is something we definitely need to win the big games that are crucial,” Matthews, who top-scored for the team with 23 from 35 balls, said.
“At the same time we have a lot of injuries, at the moment, with a lot of our key batters out but we are hoping we can get some more runs on the board in future games with the team that we have,” she added.
Ahead of the World Cup the team could be bolstered in the batting department by the return of star all-rounder Stafanie Taylor. Taylor is close to returning from injury but not yet available for selection.