Deandra Dottin was among those battling injury but she was almost able to turn the game West Indies’ way
Shashank Kishore19-Oct-2024
Hayley Matthews tries to hide her emotions after the loss•ICC/Getty Images
Hayley Matthews’ face sank into her cap as tears ran down her cheeks. Stafanie Taylor had her eyes closed to prevent tears from gushing down. Deandra Dottin was aimlessly staring into the distance. Afy Fletcher was looking skywards and young Zaida James trying to console her. Chinelle Henry had her right eye covered with soft cotton and ice to reduce swelling.The common thread running through all of this: pain and raw emotions; the hurt of having stumbled with victory within their grasp was all too evident.West Indies came into this T20 World Cup as rank underdogs and remained that way until they bowed out. But in between, they displayed exemplary skill, the ability to adapt and play a flavor unique to them – one that Matthews had spoken of, time and again during the campaign. Of trying to “have fun” and “dance like the world ain’t watching.”Related
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It’s this attitude that heralded fearlessness and a turnaround from a 10-wicket hammering from South Africa in their opening game. It’s this enterprise and naked aggression, especially on the batting front, which sent England packing in a shootout. But by the time they got to the semi-final, it seemed as if the threshold of physical pain that they had to endure, which the fun element had largely help mask, left them running on fumes.Matthews was nursing a sore thumb after coping a hard knock at training. Zaida had just about recovered from a blow on the jaw and a bruising on her hand. Taylor had her right knee heavily taped, huffing and puffing her way between deliveries. Even a limp seemed to elicit excruciating pain but bailing out of it wasn’t an option. Her inability to run left the batters looking for the big shots that they couldn’t execute as often as they would’ve liked.This was evident never more prominently than it was between overs four to eight of their chase which brought West Indies just 11 runs. Singles had become non-existent because of Taylor’s injury, leaving her to rely on boundaries that led them both to take more risks.”She was battling soreness and pain, and she was just battling to get through it all the time,” head coach Shane Deitz said of Taylor. “It was amazing that she was able to come up today. She looked probably better than she did for the last few weeks. She really was mind over body. She gave everything and obviously couldn’t get so over the line. But she put everything in for the team, which we all respect and thank her for that.”Another player who was battling her way through the tournament was Dottin. The entire women’s cricket fraternity waited as she announced a much-awaited comeback after walking away from cricket “dishearten by the system”. Here she was, clutching her sides as she bowled, which Deitz later revealed was due to a side strain that she had been nursing all along.Deandra Dottin was so nearly the match winner for West Indies•Getty ImagesIt didn’t stop her from putting her hand up to bowl when asked to in a crunch game. Dottin’s four wickets were among the primary reasons why West Indies found themselves chasing only 129. Her lack of pace and cutters, while not fully a 100% bowling fit, told you of her determination to contribute. It was the kind of superhuman performance that can uplift a dressing room.Yet an hour later, it was Dottin who had to muscle the big sixes to get West Indies back into the chase with their asking rate creeping up. Dottin was on 7 off 10, showing no inkling of rhythm to her batting. Until she decided to hit her way out of trouble with a slog sweep shelled by Rosemary Mair at deep square leg. An over later, Dottin was once again let off the hook by Eden Carson off another slog. West Indies needed 64 off 36.You knew then Dottin stood in the way of New Zealand and a World Cup final. As if her bowling performance wasn’t enough, the ‘world boss’ still needed to deliver a blockbuster with the bat to give West Indies a chance. Despite those early struggles, Dottin had steely belief that she can hit the ball anywhere for six. It probably made her look at her dangerous best. When she muscled Lea Tahuhu for a 79-metre hit over the longest boundary to start the 16th, an over that went for three sixes, you wondered if the momentum had swung the West Indies way.Dottin had injected belief. It was as if a cheat code had been activated with a prompt to hit the ball far and long. But the physical toll it had taken on her had been so immense that when she was out to a top-edged a slog, it was as if she had only held up until then on adrenaline and nothing else.The shush in the West Indies camp was one of dejection. They needed 33 off 21, but it almost seemed as if the numbers were immaterial at that very moment. They eventually fell eight short – a margin they would’ve so easily covered up with two boundaries on another day. But this was knockout pressure, and a bandaged team willing themselves to fight as much as their bodies allowed them. And on Friday, it wasn’t enough.The long flight home will be tough. But they can be massively proud at what they achieved in UAE, despite all their systemic shortcomings that merely a Women’s CPL can’t help tide over. But in having fun and playing with flair and flamboyance, West Indies sparked conversations of a revival. Now to build on it and show there’s more to them than just the Matthews, Dottins and Taylors.
