00:00The West Indies were swept 3-0 by Australia in the women's T20 series in St. Vincent.
00:05Now they play three ODIs in St. Kitts with Game 1 bowling off on Friday afternoon.
00:09Windy skipper Hayley Matthews is urging her players to bat better,
00:12saying her team has the potential to match strides with the visiting team.
00:16We certainly have done a lot of work bowling-wise,
00:20and I think it showed in the T20 series when it came to plans and execution.
00:25But in the batting department, we certainly want to see an influx, I guess,
00:30of runs and big scores and big partnerships from the top order especially.
00:36So I think that's one area as a team that we're certainly focusing on.
00:39We know we have the potential within the top six that we can go out and score runs
00:45and compete really well against Australia.
00:47It's just about focusing on the execution when game day comes
00:49and putting it all together really well.
00:52Matthews says her team will not take the series lightly, knowing very well how crucial it is.
00:57Having missed out on qualifying for the 2025 ODI World Cup in India,
01:01the ladies in Maroon don't want such a thing to happen again.
01:04Yeah, it's really important.
01:06There's obviously a lot of points up for grabs for the ICC Championship,
01:10and three games and six points,
01:13and we're obviously coming up against the number one ranked team in the world in Australia.
01:17We know it's going to be a very big challenge for us.
01:21But yeah, at the same time, I think any points that we can get to go towards the table
01:26are going to be very important for us when it comes to qualifying for the World Cup.
01:29Having beaten Bangladesh and same kids in the past,
01:32Matthews says playing in that island is special,
01:35and she's hoping the fans can be the 12th man.
01:38As a group, we certainly have enjoyed a lot of our cricket here of late over the last two years,
01:45I think,
01:46and been really successful at this ground.
01:48We know the conditions really well,
01:50and like I said, I've played here quite a lot,
01:52so we're certainly looking forward to another series here.
01:56Hopefully it brings about some more success as well,
01:58and yeah, hopefully we can see some recitation people come out, support and rally.
02:03Following game one, the teams meet in the second ODI on Sunday,
02:07followed by the final one on April 3rd.
02:09We'll do it now on E2, 6-4.
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