- 13 hours ago
Women's T20 World Cup 2026, AUS vs WI: West Indies skipper Hayley Matthews said that her team will be fearless when they face Sophie Molineux's Australia on Tuesday in the first semifinal at the Oval.
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00:01so the big match coming up so how is the team gearing up for it and what are your expectations
00:07going into the match tomorrow and the what the big match you know semi-finals so how
00:13are you preparing for it and how excited are you to play in the semi-finals yeah we're really
00:19excited as a group we certainly feel like coming up against us we have nothing to lose and that
00:26puts us in a position where we can be quite fearless going out there it's obviously been
00:31quite a journey to get here but i think as a team we're really proud of probably the way we've
00:37played
00:37so far but still know that we haven't been at our best which gives us a lot of confidence knowing
00:41that we can still get a lot better you are you are one of the three players who was i
00:49mean who were
00:50there at the aden gardens in 2016 of course that when western newsman won the world cup so do you
00:56think that that game we you will look to you know think about before going into this particular
01:02game slightly um that was 10 years ago and a much different group i also think the game was a
01:11lot
01:11different at that time um i feel like if we want to look back on any match we could probably
01:16look back
01:16at the one in 2023 um when we were in oz feel like at the oval conditions might be pretty
01:22similar we saw
01:23the game that england played the other day at home nicely the wicket was coming on um and the power
01:28score we feel is certainly going to be a lot higher than it was so far in the competition um
01:32but yeah
01:33like i said for us it's nothing to lose and um coming up against a team like oz who we
01:38know has a bunch
01:39of great players and superstars um we're gonna have to have somebody stand out and do something
01:46special but also have a lot of different people from the team contribute um but i think when you
01:51look in our dressing room we have a lot of match winners um we also have a lot of players
01:56i think
01:57who've got a lot of potential to play some really big roles that are probably a bit more unknown as
02:01well too which works for us
02:06um you've played australia a lot recently at home and then in a warm-up match what have you learned
02:11from
02:11those encounters with them um you can't take your foot off the gas at any point in time i think
02:17especially when you're bowling um they seem to come hard from ball one and have a mantra where they
02:24just want to keep going um i certainly feel as though that keeps you in play a lot when it
02:29comes to
02:29having the opportunity to possibly take wickets um but you're gonna have to hold on to your chances
02:35for sure and understand that at some point in the game a partnership like they will build
02:40um they've got a lot of really good players um but it's about trying to i guess control the flow
02:46they runs as much as possible um and just try to build as much pressure as possible like i said
02:51they're going to keep coming every single time um and you're just going to have to kind of look to
02:57defend and um hold things together until you get that breakthrough i think
03:05hi hayley um i suppose you know people will be looking at australia especially after yesterday and
03:10saying that they they're on an extreme roll um do you feel you have to feel that you can stop
03:15them
03:15of course but but what do you feel needs to be done in order to to stop such a powerful
03:19team
03:19yeah um we're gonna need big performances from big players i think um we're certainly gonna need
03:25uh standout individual performance i believe um but i think to be a team like australia you still
03:33need more than one player um we're gonna have to have our best players really stepping up to the
03:39plate tomorrow i feel like players like alia aline jazara claxton they've been great role players
03:46throughout the tournament um and i think with our stars alongside players like them really playing
03:53massive roles um we're gonna have to put together an all-round game as a group i think i said
03:58multiple times that we haven't had our best match yet um we haven't had the likes of myself or the
04:04andrew dawtons in the runs really the other dawtons in the runs really um and you know that leaves a
04:10lot
04:10of room for improvement for us as a team so uh hopefully we can see some of us stepping up
04:16a bit
04:16more um and taking it to the aussies do you expect chanel will be fully fit to bowl
04:21yeah hopefully um i think not training today but i think that's purely a matter of just giving her
04:28an opportunity to rest and recover um but yeah hopefully we get the chance to see her out there
04:33rearing and ready for tomorrow and can you just talk about um alia a little bit like she's had a
04:38really good world cup and i guess flies under the radar sometimes has she been working on anything
04:43in particular or what have you seen change or improve yeah um alia she's been really good this
04:49world cup and i feel like she's a player that's certainly improved over the last six or seven
04:53months or so especially with the ball um she's shown bright sparks in the past i think last year when
05:00we were at the qualifiers in pakistan um she took a four for that was some amazing bowler regard
05:07sorry that was some amazing bowling regardless of the uh opposition um i think she's someone who
05:16really tends to wants to step up to want to step up during the big opportunities and the big moments
05:21um she has been working i guess on some change-ups which i think has been really valuable this
05:25tournament especially with the wickets probably being a bit better um but yeah she's certainly someone
05:31who's made a big difference this world cup i spent i think especially in that first match against
05:34new zealand uh where she was able to take those wickets and we haven't even gotten the opportunity
05:39i think to see her properly with the bat yet as well too um where i also feel that she
05:44can make a real
05:44difference and and personally do you feel a lot of pressure on yourself as a high performing captain
05:49uh somewhat yes um but i don't think that's anything abnormal i certainly feel like as a captain and
05:57um as one of the i guess more renowned players in the team um i feel like that pressure is
06:04probably
06:05a bit deserved and just means that i want to do really well and i want to perform really well
06:10um and you know on a big occasion like this the semi-finals we got to the semis last year
06:17um and yeah i think to take it one step further would mean a whole lot to us as a
06:21group
06:21um i know we've got some older girls within the team um who are really passionate about taking it
06:26all the way this world cup and we certainly feel like we're not like a lot of the other teams
06:32where
06:32we're guaranteed a semi-final spot every single world cup um so we certainly want to make the most
06:38of it when we get this opportunity so personally i want to be able to play a role to help
06:42the team and
06:43although i've been going really well with the ball i still know that the team needs me there with
06:48the bat and i want to be able to step up and perform uh hi haley uh so you just
06:56spoke about
06:57how y'all are going into this match uh knowing that y'all have nothing to lose with given that
07:02there's australia of course in front of y'all how different is it to approach a game like this uh
07:08mentally when you're playing with this kind of a freedom in that sense and allows say so many
07:14players in your team who are such free-flowing players batters and uh does that change the way
07:19y'all prepare for it or mentally does that leave y'all in a different space excuse me um i
07:26don't think
07:26it necessarily changes the preparation as much i just feel like when we step onto that field um you
07:34know everyone's expecting us not to win in a sense uh when you go into a game with people probably
07:40looking at you thinking that if you do win it's going to be a surprise you certainly feel like
07:45you said that you can just go there be free um and i almost feel like a bit more of
07:50the pressure
07:51is on a team like australia um who are going to be expected to beat us and if they don't
07:57it will
07:57probably be a massive disappointment for them um so even though we have a lot of care and a lot
08:02of
08:02passion that we want to win um we're certainly not expected to i think by the masses and
08:07um that eases i think a bit of the pressure off of our shoulders uh when it comes to expectations
08:13i
08:13think
08:16and you've just said you know nobody expects us to win or people don't expect us to win um
08:21how does that feel knowing that i mean it's not just because it's australia maybe it's also
08:25you know because of maybe west indies not qualifying whatever it is does it irritate you that people
08:30don't expect that um i mean realistically i think if you look at our t20 performances probably this
08:38year um some of it might be down to the way we have performed and i guess the disappointing results
08:44we would have had in the caribbean um but at the same time i feel like we kind of show
08:49up almost
08:50every single time we come to a world cup um and i don't know what it is within the group
08:55if it's the
08:55passion or the drive um but i certainly feel like there is a sense of loving to prove people wrong
09:03um and knowing that yes we have to prove ourselves over and over but um i think it drives a
09:09lot of
09:09our players um and we try to use it as motivation i use it as fuel to just want to
09:14play harder i want
09:15to prove ourselves every single time do you think that uh when as you said that when people are not
09:22expecting you to win do you think that that can channelize i mean as you said is an extra motivation
09:27do you think that that can bring the best out of your players like some of your players are yet
09:31as
09:32you said that you have you are here to have your perfect game as a team yeah certainly um
09:38as a group i think we love to take on the fight um when we step onto that field and
09:44i know every single
09:45person um is geared up it certainly feels like it's the games where people don't expect as much from us
09:52um and then we obviously had the game against ireland the other day where it was the complete
09:57opposite uh we were probably expected to win um a bit easier as well and i don't want to say
10:03choke but
10:03we choked up a little bit um but yeah i think there is an added fire to us um when
10:09people think we can't
10:10get the job done and i not just saying that i think i see it amongst the group and even
10:15within the
10:15huddle before we step out onto the field um you can always sort of feel a different sense of energy
10:21um when it is that people are doting us and i think we just relish in that a lot of
10:26the time
10:28did you have a look at yesterday's game india australia and are you surprised that india is not there in
10:35the semifinals at all yeah i did have a look at the match yesterday um certainly a tough group that
10:41they were in um obviously south africa being a team that's been in the last three world cup finals now
10:48and australia mainly number one ranked team um it was always going to be hard i think to
10:54pick two out of the three teams to go through um unfortunate for india not to be there but at
10:59the same time one team had to be out you know um and yeah south africa played a really good
11:05cricket australia played really good cricket and yeah i guess india didn't get the cup for it
11:11hayley sorry did losing to ireland um really affect you like not yourself personally but as a team was
11:17it was it quite bad afterwards or how did you reflect on it yeah as a group they were just
11:22disappointed um we didn't want to have to depend on results to get to the semifinals and
11:29i certainly think for the few hours before england or before the result between england and new zealand
11:36uh we all felt a kind of way that we didn't want to um disappointed probably hurt like we let
11:42ourselves
11:43down a bit um but once again now that we're through i could probably say that maybe it's a blessing
11:50in
11:50disguise a little bit that we got to experience what that felt like then and there um and use that
11:56once
11:56again to kind of drive us it's certainly something that we did when we got knocked out from the
12:00qualifiers back in 2025 and we kind of let that pain motivate us not in the matches but through our
12:07training over the next few months um and yeah i know we certainly don't want to let ourselves down
12:13like that again i keep going back to it but we're a very very passionate group um we care a
12:18lot and
12:20yeah when we let ourselves down like that it certainly doesn't feel good so
12:23we want to stop that from happening happening as much as possible
12:28hails a couple of the younger players have stepped up in um the group stage matches now that you're
12:34coming up against australia you're saying that the bigger more experienced names have to really step up
12:39but what are you telling the younger ones who have been performing as they're about to face a
12:45juggernaut that is australia yeah enjoy it um these are the moments that they can go out and
12:52have their best time ever um i think when i think about something like that i go back to when
12:59we
12:59just played australia in the caribbean and ashmini munisar bought her first ball at elise perry she
13:05got a leading edge she jumped in the air with one hand and caught it and did a full 100
13:09meter sprint
13:10to the boundary um that's what it's all about you know they obviously are coming up against people who
13:16they saw i guess ruling the cricket world a bit when they were a bit younger now um and i
13:22know they look
13:22up to a few of those players but at the same time i know it will mean so much to
13:26them if they can come
13:27up against them and perform really well too um so they're definitely going to be out there gunning for
13:32them i hope um and our young players they're full of passion and drive as well so i know they'll
13:36use that to
13:37their best advantage do you think this is probably one of your better performing world cups in terms
13:43of having more players step up to uh decrease if you want to use it as that um to contribute
13:50to the
13:50team's success in the tournament hundred percent hundred percent um i keep going back to it i haven't
13:56made a 50 deandre dawden hasn't gotten runs you know henry's gotten one score safari taylor hasn't
14:02gotten a 50 um and we're winning games and that's probably something that we haven't seen in a very
14:09very very long time um so the fact that we have other people and it certainly feels like we have
14:15a team collective getting the job done rather than one or two players pulling the weight um and like i
14:21keep saying it certainly means that we have so much better that we can get um if we do see
14:26some of
14:27our bigger players step up so i think it's just about us going out there and actually executing it
14:32and getting the job done um but it certainly leaves a scope for a lot of belief for us
14:37you had a really long knocking in net today um do you think your game is tomorrow for you to
14:43really get that score and get westernies over the line yeah hopefully um i feel like tomorrow is a
14:51really big occasion um and i know the team depends on me a lot at the top of the order
14:56to
14:57not only set the tone but control the innings as well um and i certainly feel that as a group
15:03we're at our best when i'm flowing well and some of the other senior players are flowing well in the
15:07middle um so it would be really special if i could have a big innings tomorrow but yeah at the
15:13same
15:13time not taking away that if i don't score runs we can't win um however i think tomorrow is set
15:18up
15:18for the perfect occasion for me to step up city plate hopefully
15:24hopefully thank you
15:25thank you