Photo Credit: ICC
After a blistering start to the tournament, West Indies have it all to do to qualify for the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup semi-finals and vice-captain Anisa Mohammed has admitted missing out would be tough to take.
The Maroon Warriors won their opening two group matches but have since lost three of their last four, including the eight-wicket defeat against Pakistan last time out.
They now have to win their remaining game against South Africa in Wellington tomorrow and hope other results go their way if they are to make the last four.
“We’ve won two of the toughest games at the start of the tournament and to come and lose now would be very heartbreaking,” the off spinner said.
“Not just me, for all of the team members, but we’re really hoping that we will able to change things around tomorrow. We are still positive, we know there’s still a chance, we’re going to go hard tomorrow.
“We have found ourselves in this position, we must win tomorrow and then hope that South Africa can beat India or there can be an upset somewhere, but we can only control the things that we can control.
“Tomorrow’s game is going to be very crucial and very important for us and we have to play our best game tomorrow and win, then just sit and wait and hopefully be able to go to the semi-finals.”
The West Indies started with two dramatic victories over hosts New Zealand and defending champions England before heavy defeats against Australia and India.
They bounced back with a narrow win over Bangladesh before succumbing to Pakistan, leaving their semi-final hopes in the balance.
South Africa, on the other hand, know victory will guarantee them a spot in the last four and at least second place in the standings.
The Proteas suffered their first defeat of the competition to the all-conquering Australia but made over 250 for the first time in the tournament as they set the table-toppers 272 to win.
Captain Sune Luus said: “If you look at yesterday’s game, I think we batted brilliantly to get to 270. Obviously, they [Australia] are one of the best bowling attacks in the world as well and for our batters to match that and to get 270, I think we did a brilliant job.
“That’s just evidence to how hard the batters have been working and what we can do. It’s just about getting the bowlers to fire on the day as well.
“It didn’t happen yesterday but that’s a rare thing for our bowlers and I’m pretty sure they’ll bounce back again tomorrow.”
West Indies and South Africa are very familiar with each other having played home and away series over the last year, with South Africa coming out on top both times.
Luus added: “Obviously those series helped us a lot to prepare for the game tomorrow. We know all the players pretty well and we know what their game plan is going to be.
“It’s just best to stick to our game plans and keep doing the basics right and to make sure we are very clinical tomorrow.”
Name of Author: ICC
The International Cricket Council (ICC) is the global governing body for cricket, founded in 1909 as the Imperial Cricket Conference. Renamed the International Cricket Conference in 1965, it became the ICC in 1987. Headquartered in Dubai, UAE, the ICC has 108 member nations.
