Following a sobering tour of England that tested their resolve and depth, the West Indies Women have taken a confident first step toward redemption, and head coach Shane Deitz could not be prouder.

In a rain-interrupted opening ODI at the Three Ws Oval on Wednesday, the home side pulled off a composed four-wicket win over South Africa Women under the DLS method. The result not only gave the regional side a 1-0 lead in the three-match series, but it also marked a return to winning ways, as Deitz welcomed the performance as "a great bounce back."

"It was great to bounce back after a tough tour in England. We were trying to take all the positives out of that tour because it was pretty hard, pretty long. But it's good to be back home playing in front of our fans. The girls were fired up; we had a great meeting and a good session ahead of the game, and they brought that energy to the field," Deitz said in a post-game interview.

While South Africa got off to a decent start in the powerplay, posting 73 before the fall of the first wicket, the West Indies bowlers clawed their way back with timely wickets and sharp fielding to restrict the visitors to 232-9.

But it was the West Indies’ opening batters who set the tone for the chase. Captain Hayley Matthews and Qiana Joseph attacked the new ball fearlessly, as they racked up 70 runs inside the powerplay in what was an 88-run opening stand, before Joseph pushed on to a dynamic 60 off 58 balls.

"Our bowlers fought quite hard to pull the score back to something that we could chase, which is great, and then obviously our two openers went out and destroyed it in the power play. They played with freedom, which is a style of play we are trying to introduce, which was great. Qiana led the way, and then Stafanie and Glasgow really finished it at the end," Deitz said as he beamed with delight.

The Australian-born coach was particularly pleased with Joseph’s resurgence, especially after a quiet run during the T20 leg of the England tour. He pointed to her mental resilience and technical refinement as key reasons for her turnaround.

"We know they had good plans for her in the T20, so we had to sit and work out how she can combat that. We had a lot of sessions and hard work on her technique and how to get her in better positions to combat how they would bowl to her, and she fought back hard and has shown a lot of mental toughness as well. She played really well in England and brought that form here. It was a good pitch for her to bat on, and she put on a good display," he shared.

With the second ODI at the same venue, Deitz knows a South African fightback is likely, but he is calling on fans to rally behind the team in what could be a series-clinching encounter.

“South Africa has a really good team, so they are going to bounce back hard, but it’s a great chance for us to win a series in two games. So it should be a great game on Saturday. Hopefully we can get a lot of people to come down and support the ladies. We are going to come out firing and definitely going to put everything into winning the game, and hopefully we wrap up the series on Saturday, which would be a great result," he ended.