‘Fighter’ Taylor puts the team first in West Indies win
Media release
Stafanie Taylor did as she has done for over a decade and put her West Indies team before herself.
The 33-year-old fielded and batted through injury to help steer the Maroon side to an eight-wicket win over Bangladesh.
Taylor injured herself pulling off a great piece of fielding early in Bangladesh’s innings as the Tigers made 103 for eight from their 20 overs.
She then opened the batting with Hayley Matthews, putting on 52 for the first wicket before eventually retiring hurt on 27 but having done enough to put West Indies in a good position going into the final group games.
“She is a fighter, she has been around for a long time, and she knows how to manage her body pretty well,” Matthews said.
“She has been putting up a good fight to try and get on the park and stay on the park and today at the water break it was a matter of realizing the position we were in in the game and that she could probably come off.
“She is a crucial part of our line-up and is a fighter and I don’t think any of our doctors or physios would have her out here if they knew she wasn’t up for the challenge, but she has been up for it every single time.”
2016 champion Taylor passed 1,000 ICC Women’s T20 World Cup runs during her batting innings, as she ably supported Matthews and Shemaine Campbelle as they led the scoring.
West Indies were always comfortable in their chase after Karishma Ramharack’s four wickets for 17 runs had pegged Bangladesh back as they looked to put on a competitive total in Sharjah.
Matthews added: “We spoke about being really disciplined with the ball and I think it was great execution from the bowlers.
“Getting them to hit where we wanted to and then we came out to bat with the intent we wanted to and we were able to continue that straight through the innings.
“It is definitely a help going into the final game.”
Nigar Sultana Joty top-scored with 39 as Bangladesh moved to a promising position of 58 for two at the drinks break.
But from there, they lost wickets at regular intervals to reach 103 for eight from 20 overs which West Indies chased down with 43 balls to spare.
Sultana said: “I think we had a very good start. In the last two games, in the middle of them, we have let through too many dots and we gave them too many wickets also.
“Their bowlers bowled really well in the middle overs and they weren’t giving us any room to play our shots.
“We missed out on so many singles and it gave us pressure and we kept losing wickets.
“There are a lot of things we can take on learnings, we have to be positive in this tournament as we have an inexperienced side at this tournament.
“And we need to focus on our intent, I think the bowlers have done their job in each and every game and is the batters’ job to be strong in a batting unit in the next game.”
Bangladesh will take on South Africa in their final group game on Saturday before West Indies face England on Tuesday to round out the pool stages and both will know exactly what they need to do to advance to the semi-finals.
ENDS