Cricket West Indies (CWI) has announced a 15-member West Indies Women squad for the upcoming ICC Women’s T20 World Cup in South Africa starting on February 11.

The squad sees the inclusion of three West Indies Under 19 Rising Stars players who recently competed in the first ever ICC Women’s U19 World Cup. They are Zaida James, Trishan Holder and Djenaba Joseph.

Shemaine Campbelle, the wicketkeeper/batter has been named as vice-captain. Experienced all-rounder Stafanie Taylor has been named in the squad subject to a final fitness assessment.

“The selectors have opted for a blend of youth and experience for the upcoming T20 World Cup,” said Chief Selector Ann Browne-John.

“Four senior players who have been out through injury have returned – Stafanie Taylor, Shakera Selman, Chinelle Henry and Chedean Nation.

“We continue the developmental pathway to grow women’s cricket in the region, hence we feel the time is right to include three of the Under 19 Rising Stars in the squad.”

Browne-John added that James, Joseph and Holder have been making great progress.

“Zaida brings both left-hand batting and left-arm orthodox bowling, both of which the team has been missing in recent time,” Browne-John said.

“Djenaba is a batting all-rounder and Trishan, a powerful striker and wicketkeeping option. They have all proven that they can hold their own at this level. We believe the 15 players consist of a good all-round mix and we expect them to be able to compete in this World Cup.”

The West Indies squad features six players, Hayley Matthews, Shemaine Campbelle, Stafanie Taylor, Shamilia Connell, Shakera Selman and Afy Fletcher who became World Champions in 2016.

West Indies have been drawn in Group 2 alongside England, India, Pakistan and Ireland and will travel to Cape Town on Friday, February 3, ahead of the start of the tournament, which will begin on Friday, February 10, with hosts South Africa taking on Sri Lanka.

Newlands, Cape Town; Boland Park, Paarl and St. George’s Park, Gqeberha are the host venues for the tournament with both Semi-Finals and the Final being played in Cape Town on February 26.

 FULL SQUAD:  Hayley Matthews ​ (Captain), Shemaine Campbelle (Vice Captain), Aaliyah Alleyne, Shamilia Connell, Afy Fletcher, Shabika Gajnabi, Chinelle Henry, Trishan Holder, Zaida James, Djenaba Joseph, Chedean Nation, Karishma Ramharack, Shakera Selman, Stafanie Taylor and Rashada Williams.

T20 World Cup Match schedule

Monday, 13 February: West Indies vs England, Boland Park, Paarl, 3pm (9am Eastern Caribbean/8am Jamaica)

Wednesday, 15 February: West Indies vs India, Newlands, Cape Town, 3pm (9am Eastern Caribbean/8am Jamaica)

Friday, 17 February: West Indies vs Ireland, Newlands, Cape Town,7pm (1pm Eastern Caribbean/12noon Jamaica)

Sunday, 19 February: West Indies vs Pakistan, Boland Park, Paarl, 3pm (9am Eastern Caribbean/8am Jamaica)

Another poor performance with the bat resulted in another embarrassing loss for the West Indies Women, this time by 10 wickets against South Africa in the ongoing Tri-Nation Series in East London on Wednesday.

Batting first, the West Indies Women crawled to 97-6 from their 20 overs. As has become the norm, the Caribbean women struggled early slipping to 29-4 in the 10^th over with Rashada Williams (1), Britney Cooper (10), Shermaine Campbelle (1) and Shenetta Grimmond (5) all back in the hutch.

Captain Hayley Matthews and Shabika Gajnabi stitched together 61-run partnership but it took 53-balls to achieve. Gajnabi off the first ball of the final over for 33 with Matthews following two balls later for a top score of 34.

Tumi Sekhukhune was the best of the South African bowlers with 2-24.  Nonkululeko Mlaba returned miserly figures of 1-7 from her four overs.

Where the West Indies Women struggled, South Africa’s Women seemed at ease cruising to 98-0 from 13.4 overs. Tasmin Brits was unbeaten on an even 50 at the end while her opening partner Laura Wolvaardt was not out on 42.

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.

The loss marked the 9th match in a row for the regional team, who last tasted victory in a win over New Zealand in September.  Against South Africa, the team’s now familiar struggles at the crease came to the fore.

After holding the South Africans to 141 on a slow pitch, the West Indies could not get to triple digits as they were dismissed for 97.  Perhaps even more concerning was the team’s collapse from 32 without loss to 67 for 6.

“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.

West Indies Women captain Hayley Matthews is relieved to have the additional firepower of players returning from injury, heading into the team’s upcoming T20 series against South Africa and India. 

Ahead of its three-team series, the Windies Women will be bolstered by the return of former captain and star all-rounder Stafanie Taylor, bowler’s Shamilia Connell, Shakera Selman and Britney Cooper.  Cooper was not injured, but the experienced middle order batsman will be playing in the team for the first time since 2021.

Taylor, in the meantime, has not featured for the team since the second ODI against New Zealand in September.  It’s safe to say Matthews has noticed the absence of the team’s more experienced players.  

The Windies have struggled to make an impact at the crease, recently, losing 3-0 last month in their ODI series against England, and 5-0 in the T20 format.

“It’s really good to have a lot of our players back. We had a couple of injuries over the past couple months which at the same time would have given some of the younger players really good opportunity,” Matthews told members of the media.

“But to have the senior core back, really gives us a strong team coming into a series like this. We’re thankful to have her (Taylor) back and know she’s been the gel of this team for quite some time now and has so much experience and knowledge on the game,” she added.

“Hopefully she gets an opportunity to go out there and get things rolling before the World Cup comes up.”

With the Women’s T20 World Cup set to begin next month, the team will play at least four matches in the upcoming series, playing two matches each against South Africa and India. The two top teams will then play each other in the Tri-Series final on February 2.

West Indies captain Hayley Matthews has jumped to second place among T20I allrounders and is ranked fourth among bowlers after the latest ICC update.

Matthews went up by three places among the bowlers, to slot in behind Sophie Ecclestone, Sarah Glenn and Deepti Sharma, and rose one spot among allrounders to be just four rating points away from No. 1 Sophie Devine.

In four T20Is at home against England, who are leading 4-0 in the five-match series, Matthews has picked up five wickets and scored 66 runs with knocks of 23 and 25 in the last two games.

A spirited effort by West Indies saw them push England in a keen contest on Saturday night but the visitors secured a victory and with it took an unassailable lead in the five-match rubber.

West Indies Women’s captain Hayley Matthews bagged a three-for but could not prevent 16 run loss to England who took an overall 2-0 lead in the ongoing T20 series on Wednesday.

After winning the toss and choosing to bat, England Women put up an average 141 for 6 in their stint at the crease.  The team was led by an enterprising 43 runs from 43 deliveries from opener Sophia Dunkley, who gave England a solid start with partner Danni Wyatt.

Dunkley and Wyatt put 36 on the board before Afy Fletcher broke the partnership, after bowling Wyatt for 20.  Following the dismissal of Lauren Winfield-Hill, Heather Knight became the first of Matthew’s wickets.  She was caught by Karishma Ramharack on 4. 

Matthews then also accounted for Dunkley, who was stumped by Knight.  A new-look England line-up then struggled to put together solid partnerships after that managing just 31 off the last five overs.

In pursuit of the target, the West Indies started out at 21 without loss but Lauren Bell and Charlie Dean were then introduced to the attack with great success. 

Davies got the breakthrough when she removed Aaliyah Alleyne, who made 16 from 14. Dean then the important wicket of Matthews to leave the team struggling at 23 for 2 after the first 4 over.  The Windies never recovered and eventually fell short at 125 for 8.  Dean ended with figures of 3 for 22, while Bell claimed 2 for 21.

West Indies Women’s coach Courtney Walsh has lamented another poor performance with the bat by the team that suffered another massive loss to England Women at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua on Tuesday.

After bowling England out for 260, the West Indies Women were skittled out for a 118 in just 31.3 overs to lose by 142 runs, a similar margin to the loss in the first ODI on Sunday in which England made 307-7 and then bowled the home side out for 165.

The result means England takes an unassailable 2-0 lead in the CG United One Day International series.

“In both games we haven’t batted well,” Walsh said after Tuesday’s humiliating defeat. “We were a lot better with the ball in this game on a good batting track and for the score where we had them at 260, I thought we would have batted better.”

Walsh reserved praise for Rashada Williams, who stood out among the batters.

“We lost those early wickets and just never recovered,” he said.

“The batters can take a lot from Rashada’s performance. I am pleased with how she went about it and showed that it can be done. We have a lot at stake with one game remaining and we need to get championship points. Our momentum is good but performance and execution, we have to try and get better.”

Batting first, England owed their competitive score to Amy Jones, who scored an unbeaten 70 and Sophia Dunkley’s unbeaten 57 as the local bowlers restricted England’s ability to build big partnerships.

Leading from the front Hayley Matthews took 3-50 and was supported by Afy Fletcher, who returned figures of 2-41 and Aaliyah Alleyne 2-47.

The West Indies Women’s reply got off to a disastrous start losing four wickets inside the first four overs with just eight runs on the board.

Williams offered the only real resistance with an unbeaten 54 that allowed the West Indies Women to push past 100 runs. Chedean Nation and Chinelle Henry with scores of 17 and 13, respectively, were the only other batters in double figures as Lauren Bell wreaked havoc taking 4-33.

Charlie Dean took 2-9 and there were also two wickets each for Sophie Ecclestone (2-25) and Kate Cross (2-35) in the rout.

The teams meet again on Friday, December 9 at the same venue.

England Women took a 1-0 lead over the West Indies Women following their 142-run victory in the first ODI at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua on Sunday.

Batting first, England was led by Natalie Sciver, who scored a game-high 90 from 96 balls, amassed 307-7 from their 50 overs. Sciver and Dani Wyatt shared in a fifth-wicket partnership of 103 in just under 17 overs that took the match beyond the reach of the West Indies Women. Wyatt contributed 68 to the mammoth total.

Tammy Beaumont (33) and Amy Jones (30) also made useful contributions.

Chinelle Henry was the best of the West Indies bowlers taking 3-59. Afy Fletcher took 2-66.

The West Indies Women were never able to cope with the demand of scoring more than six runs an over and unable to form useful partnerships, were bowled out for 165 in 40.3 overs. The exception was a 70-run second wicket partnership between Kycia Knight and Rashada Williams that produced a respectable 70 runs. Both were dismissed for 39 and 34, respectively.

Captain Hayley Matthews, who retired hurt early on, returned to score 34 for the home side.

Charlie Dean took 4-35 and Kate Cross 2-27 for the victors.

Matthews lamented her team’s inability to stick to the game plan.

"Both facets of the game (batting and bowling) we didn't do what we wanted on a decent and England was able to capitalize on it,” the captain said.

“We're going back to the drawing board and see what we can improve on in the next game. Our power play was pretty good but we let a little too many runs go by in the middle overs. It was good to see the partnership between Kycia and Rashada and I hope we can get a few more of those.”

West Indies Women captain Hayley Matthews’ top-score of 35 was not enough to prevent the Melbourne Renegades from a 21-run defeat against the Brisbane Heat in the Women’s Big Bash League in Mackay, Australia on Monday.

The Renegades won the toss and elected to field first, a decision that proved costly as the Heat’s Australian opening pair of Grace Harris and Georgia Redmayne put on a mammoth 165 for the first wicket.

Harris scored a 50-ball 65 including six fours and a six while Redmayne remained unbeaten on 98 from 67 balls including 12 fours. Laura Harris was not out on eight alongside Redmayne as the Heat eventually posted 180-1 from their 20 overs. Matthews was expensive, conceding 40 runs from her four overs without picking up a wicket.

In their reply, the Renegades batted decently but fell short of their target in the end, finishing 159-6 from their 20 overs. Matthews was good at the top of the innings with a quick 19-ball 35 including six fours while Carly Leeson ended not out on 34 against New Zealand leg-spinner Amelia Kerr’s 2-27 from four overs.

Matthews’ Renegades are currently fifth in the eight-team table with two points from as many games.

West Indies Women’s team captain Hayley Matthews believes the ongoing series against New Zealand presents a real opportunity for younger members of the squad to gain valuable experience playing against a quality team.

On Wednesday, the Kiwis took an unassailable 3-1 series lead after beating the West Indies via a tense Super Over.  In the regular innings, the Caribbean team successfully chased down but could not overhaul New Zealand's score of 111.

In the Super Over, Matthews and Natasha McLean put on 15 runs but New Zealand captain Sophie Devine put on a savage display of power hitting, which ended with a last-ball six off Matthew to plunder 17-runs from the over and the series win.

With the likes of Anisa Mohammed, former captain Stafanie Taylor, and the recently retired Deandra Dottin all missing from the squad the team included several developing players and a few returning ones. 

“This is very good for the girls getting the opportunity to go out there and play the highest level of cricket.  To play against an experienced team like New Zealand with a lot of veterans and known campaigners,” Matthews said.

“We do have a lot of injuries but it’s a great opportunity for the girls to get out there be in the deep end, have a good go at international cricket, and hopefully learn a lot,” she added.

With Matthews only recently having taken over the captaincy from Taylor she admits the situation also presents her with a personal opportunity to develop in the role.

“The team has been supporting me really well.  It’s definitely thrown me in the deep end a bit with a lot of the injuries that we have had and not having as much experience on the team but at the same time, I think it’s only going to help me to learn faster and be better as well.  So, I’m just embracing the challenge.”

Despite a heroic effort with bat and ball from Captain Hayley Matthews, the West Indies Women lost the third and final One Day International against New Zealand and with it the series 2-1 at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua on Sunday.

West Indies captain Hayley Matthews has risen to number one on the ICC’s latest women’s All-rounder rankings in One-Day Internationals.

The Barbadian most recently led the Windies in a home ODI series against New Zealand which they lost 2-1.

Matthews scored 88 runs in the three games, the most for West Indies, and also picked up five wickets, which took her to the No. 1 position on the allrounders' table, a jump of three positions past Australia’s Ellyse Perry, England’s Nat Sciver and South Africa’s Marizanne Kapp.

The 24-year-old Matthews has so far played 72 ODIs since her debut in 2014, scoring 1852 runs at an average of 27.23 with three hundreds and six fifties. She also has 83 wickets at an average of 24.27 with three four-wicket hauls.

Stafanie Taylor scored an unbeaten half-century to lead the West Indies Women to a four-wicket victory over New Zealand in the final ODI match at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua on Sunday.

Taylor scored an 89-ball 51 before retiring as the West Indies Women, chasing 168, scored 169-6 with 38 balls remaining for a consolation victory in the three-match series.

Lauren Down scored 53 and Amelia Carr, 30, in New Zealand’s total of 168 in 48.1 overs. The West Indies Women bowled well to restrict New Zealand and were led by their captain, Hayley Matthews, who dismissed Down, finishing with figures of 2-23 from her 10 overs.

Spinner Karishma Ramharack took 2-28 and Afy Fletcher 2-31 as the attack gave the batters an achievable target.

After the West Indies lost the wickets of Natasha McLean and Shakibi Gujnabi early in the chase, Matthews scored 40, and with Taylor, put on 81 for the third wicket before she was dismissed by Brooke Halliday who took 1-16 from her four overs.

Taylor retired hurt shortly thereafter leaving, Aaliyah Alleyne to score an s unbeaten 27  as she and Shakera Selman (5) took the West Indies Women across to victory.