Campbelle repays the faith to stun defending champions

Shemaine Campbelle is the "heart and soul" of West Indies' women's team, according to head coach Shane Deitz, who praised the character that his players showed in closing out a thrilling seven-wicket win over the defending champions, New Zealand, in their opening match of the T20 World Cup.

Campbelle had never before made a T20I half-century in a 155-match career that dates back to 2009, and was averaging 15 in the format prior to Saturday's innings. However, she chose the ideal moment to make her muscular game count.

With West Indies lacking the services of two of their established power-players, Stafanie Taylor and Chinelle Henry, Campbelle struck seven fours and three sixes in an unbeaten 90 from 62 balls, before scampering through for the winning leg-bye with one ball left in the match.

Afterwards the emotion poured out, particularly when being interviewed by fellow West Indian Ian Bishop in the post-match presentations, and Deitz said he was delighted that such a big moment had arrived for her, so early in this competition.

"She's the heart and soul of the team," Deitz said. "She has a lot of passion and was very emotional at the end there, but she's the heartbeat of the team, and has been for a long time.

"Her performances probably haven't been where other people expect them to be. She's been under a bit of pressure, but we're sticking by her, because we believe that she's a great player and offers a lot.

"It's not just always about statistics, it's about how you integrate in the team and how you're a leader on and off the field, and we're so happy for her. She's one of the most loved players in the team, so it's brilliant for her, and hopefully she can kick on, have a brilliant World Cup, and win us a few more games.

"We've talked about having more people contributing to being Player of the Match," Deitz added. "Obviously Hayley wins a lot of them, but that's got to be everyone's goal. She did today, and hopefully a few more can do it along the way and win some games for us."

Campbelle rode her luck along the way, surviving two dropped catches and a stumping, as well as a successful review for lbw on 24. However, by the contest's closing stages, New Zealand's fielders seemed punch-drunk from the heavy hitting that she and her captain, Hayley Matthews, served up in the course of their 163-run chase, and Deitz acknowledged that the means to that end was no accident.

"When I took over [as coach in 2023], we analysed what areas we needed to improve on, and it was hitting more boundaries and getting more of a power game, which is the West Indies DNA of playing cricket," Deitz said. "So we're going to stick to that. We've talked a lot about it. We practice a lot of power-hitting, trying to hit the ball harder, put the fielders under pressure, and sometimes goes your way, and it did today."

West Indies' victory had several similarities with another of their famous T20 World Cup wins, against England in Dubai in October 2024, when Matthews and Qiana Joseph landed blow after blow in the powerplay, to reduce their opponents' fielding display to ruins and leapfrog into the tournament semi-finals.

That alliance didn't come to fruition this time around, however, with Joseph left fuming after a second-over run-out that led to a sharp exchange of views with her captain - and an apparent clash of shoulders - as she stalked from the crease.

Though Deitz had said he admired the "fighting spirit" that the girls had shown, he joked he hadn't meant it literally. "I haven't really talked to them about it," he said. "I think there was one [run] there, and I think Qiana was looking at the ball when Hayley was trying to call her through. That happens in cricket, but I don't think they're punching or having a fight. But I'm backing Qiana if they do …"

That incident aside, West Indies' running between the wickets was a notable aspect of their chase, with a regular diet of singles contributing to their success.

"We've got to still have a bit of finesse," Deitz added. "We ran well between the wickets today to put them under pressure, so it wasn't just a power game. In overall cricket, we did really well. We really pulled it back with the ball too, and they were probably 20 runs short, and then in the field I thought we were really good too."

The same, however, could not be said for New Zealand. "We put a competitive total on the board, and unfortunately our fielding let us down," Maddy Green said. "It's just a really bad day at the office for the group, but we've got no choice but to move on really quickly, and obviously address a couple of things leading into the next game."

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