Photo Credit: Cricket West Indies
West Indies superstar allrounder Hayley Matthews has been named on the Most Valuable Team of the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2022. She performed brilliantly throughout the tournament with 260 runs including a match-winning century against New Zealand. It was a career-defining 119 off 128 balls with 16 fours and a six as West Indies stunned the hosts on the opening day.
She also took 10 wickets with her clever off-spin, with best figure of 4-15 against Bangladesh, to record another nail-biting win for the West Indies. Due her performances West Indies were able to make it to the semi-finals of the marquee global tournament for the first time since 2013. They were also the first team to every come through from the qualifiers and make the final four of the main event.
Cricket West Indies (CWI) congratulated Matthews on making the Most Valuable Team of the tournament. Anne Brown-John, Lead Selector for Women’s Cricket also praised the team for their showing at the tournament and the strides made to finish among the top four and climb up the ICC Women’s ODIs standings.
Browne-John said: “I will like to congratulate the team on reaching the World Cup semi-final. The team went into the competition in the lower half of the standings and ended in the top four. For this the players and staff must be complimented. The selectors put together what we considered to be the best eighteen available players for the World Cup and we are confident that they did their best. Everyone would like to get to the final but it did not happen this time. Despite this, there were some really remarkable performances and Hayley Matthews and Deandra Dottin were beacons; resulting in Hayley being named to the ICC team of the World Cup. This is well deserved since she was one of the outstanding players of the Tournament both with the bat and the ball. For this she must be commended.”
Matthews said: “I’ve put a lot of hard work leading up to the tournament and to be selected to the best XI is reward for that. I must admit that it’s bittersweet because we didn’t make it to the final but the fight we’ve shown throughout the tournament signifies the growth we’ve had as a team. Getting a century is always a momentous occasion but getting a World Cup hundred was, I think, just a bit more special for me and definitely up there in being quite memorable. The opportunity to contribute with the ball as well has been really pleasing, knowing that if it doesn’t go my way with the bat on that day, that I can still contribute otherwise.”
Meg Lanning was named captain of the Most Valuable Team after guiding her side to the title and scoring 394 runs. Four Australians have made the team, including Player-of-the-Tournament Alyssa Healy. The wicket-keeper-batter made two centuries in the knockout stages, including 170 in the final against England.
Most Valuable Team
Laura Wolvaardt (South Africa)
Alyssa Healy (Australia) – wicket-keeper
Meg Lanning (Australia) – captain
Rachael Haynes (Australia)
Nat Sciver (England)
Beth Mooney (Australia)
Hayley Matthews (West Indies)
Marizanne Kapp (South Africa)
Sophie Ecclestone (England)
Shabnim Ismail (South Africa)
Salma Khatun (Bangladesh)
12th: Charlie Dean (England)
