15 February - Cape Town - West Indies player Shakera Selman post-match press conference
[Reporter]
Hi Shakera, would you say that the conditions maybe took some time to adjust to in terms of bowling or how do you think you guys approached that surface?
[Shakera Selman]
Yeah I think it took some time to adjust to more batting ways. We had the advantage of bowling second so I think we should have adjusted a bit faster. I think we've seen two games in a row where our opening bowlers didn't start well and that obviously put us on the back foot depending on such a low total.
[Reporter]
And then just it seemed like there was quite a momentum shift when Stephanie left the field. I don't know if you know how she is but what did that do when you saw her going off?
[Shakera Selman]
Yeah Steph is obviously a senior player, obviously our former captain and it was hard for us to see her going off for a second time in a row. We were hoping that she will be good. She obviously played a brilliant knock having just come out from injury, only her second game for the year. So we're proud of the fight she put up and she's being assessed by the medical staff.
[Reporter]
For a 2016 champion, T20 World Cup champion, how does it feel to be losing eight consecutive matches against India and 15 due to slow power play from 17 to 16 overs?
[Shakera Selman]
Yeah like I said we're obviously disappointed. We haven't played great cricket over the last year and a half maybe, we've struggled especially with the bat. I know there were obviously lots of bad statistics because we have won a World Cup before but it's pretty simple if we are playing like this we are not going to win many games.
[Reporter]
How much do you know about Stephanie Taylor's condition? Do you know what the problem is and how bad it is?
[Shakera Selman]
Like I said she just she's just come out from injury, only her second game for the year. She didn't even take part in any warm-up games and she's being assessed by the medical staff. That's as much as I know so far.
[Reporter]
Just wanted to ask your thoughts on the way Karishma has bowled and as someone who missed out on the previous World Cup, she was a part of the pre-World Cup camp in 2020 and she missed out and the way she has grown since then and how she has become an integral part of this team. Could you throw some light upon her journey and her performance today?
[Shakera Selman]
Yeah she bowled brilliantly, she got two for 14 I think from her four overs and she obviously didn't play the first game so it was really good to see her putting up her hand. She has been in the shadows for a while obviously we had a few spinners who came back as well so I think she's used the opportunity brilliantly. She also did well last year where she got an opportunity to play in New Zealand so I'm really proud of the progress she's made and if anyone knows Karishma she's a very hard worker.
[Reporter]
There's not much time before your next game, how do you change around what hasn't gone right this year in such a short space of time?
[Shakera Selman]
Yeah it's pretty clear we aren't going to score on the 120 and win many games and like I said we haven't started well with the ball unfortunately, we've got to figure that out as quickly as possible. It's just two days before our next game and Ireland obviously they played well in the warm-up game against Australia and we know they'll be coming at us and we need to win the game.
[Reporter]
So my question is around Richa Ghosh, how do you rate her, how do you feel after watching her back today? So what is your assessment about Richa Ghosh?
[Shakera Selman]
Yeah it's not the first time I've seen her bat - I first played her in IPL and first ball she hit me back on the ground so I rated her from then - but she is a really good player. She's a superstar for India and it's good to see youngsters hold up their hand and lead from the front. So it's really good to see and I'm impressed by what she's done so far I think she'll do so much more for India.
[Reporter]
How would you rate today's knock by Richa Ghosh?
[Shakera Selman]
It was very good, I think she played the situation very well. She came out at a tricky time, joined her captain at a time where we kind of got the momentum we took a few wickets quickly and I think she played the situation very well but she still didn't go away from her strength which is attacking.
[Reporter]
How do you assess now going forward West Indies cricket in T20 after this World Cup because at this moment honestly speaking it's not looking good for you?
[Shakera Selman]
Yeah I agree. I don't know we have three under -19’s in the squad- our under 19 team didn't do too badly, so all I can do is hope that the youngsters can come and help change where we've been going. There's no doubt we struggled like I said last year and a half and we have to find a way to remedy that and turn the page.
[Reporter]
It was very important for you to win today's match but from the start your girls failed to make the run scores.
[Shakera Selman]
Yeah today's match obviously was important. We lost to England the first game and we knew how important today was. Again, we struggled in the power play but then we had a foundation start to be rebuilt by Shamim Campbell and Stephanie and I still think they got us to a position we should have powered on at the end. Unfortunately we didn't. We struggled again at the back end or middle to lower order failed to contribute. Yeah it was important. All we can do now is try to play our best cricket and hope that results go our way.