Deitz stresses improvement to cement semis spot

West Indies coach Shane Deitz is focused on improvement rather than future outcomes, despite his team needing just one more win to likely secure a semi-final berth at the ICC Women's T20 World Cup. Following their fifth consecutive victory, a five-wicket win over Sri Lanka, Deitz stressed that "Anyone can beat you on any day here, so we’ve still got to win at least one more game." He is looking for a strong performance against England in their next match to confirm their progression.

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We’re playing ok cricket but we need to improve.

While captain Hayley Matthews downplayed concerns about the team's chase of 99 against Sri Lanka, Deitz acknowledged that the batting performance could have been better. "Probably should have batted a bit better, so there is a bit of work to do there," he admitted. However, he was pleased with the team's bowling and fielding efforts during the match. Deitz also lauded the significant contribution of veteran player Stafanie Taylor, whose unbeaten 27 steadied the run chase. Taylor had also scored 47 not out against Scotland, earning her Player-of-the-Match honors.

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Anyone can beat you on any day here, so we’ve still got to win at least one more game and hopefully on Wednesday put a good performance in at Lord’s and beat England and then we’ll think we’re in the semi-finals.

Deitz praised Taylor's recent form, noting her hard work and importance to the squad. "She was obviously real disappointed to miss that first game. Ireland, before we came here, she was hitting the ball real good too, so we definitely missed her that first game (against New Zealand) but luckily she’s come back and had two real important knocks for us at a great strike rate and really taken the opposition down, and she looks like a million dollars," he said. He expressed hope that other key batters would soon find their form to support Taylor as the tournament enters its crucial stages.

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Probably should have batted a bit better, so there is a bit of work to do there.

Overall, Deitz expressed satisfaction with the team's depth and their collective approach to the tournament. "We got great depth. As we said, we need 15 players to contribute to win these tournaments and these games and that’s what we’re doing; that’s what we worked on, so we’re really happy the way that’s going," he stated. The team's mantra of "find a way" to win in any situation has been a key positive, and Deitz is proud of the players' ability to execute this consistently.

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She’s worked really hard the last year. She was obviously real disappointed to miss that first game. Ireland, before we came here, she was hitting the ball real good too, so we definitely missed her that first game (against New Zealand) but luckily she’s come back and had two real important knocks for us at a great strike rate and really taken the opposition down, and she looks like a million dollars.