29 March - Wellington - West Indies Captain Stafanie Taylor pre-match press conference
Reporter: We've heard earlier that Elyse Perry is not going to be playing the semifinal. Just Are you able to update us on the how your squad’s going?
Stafanie Taylor: Everyone is fit and raring to go. Yeah, as far as I'm concerned, everyone is available to play.
Reporter: Obviously people have seen the video that of finding out that you made it to the semifinals and firstly, talk me through what it means to the team to be here. But also, we saw your reaction was a little more subdued than the rest of the team. Why was that?
Stafanie: I think it's just my personality. Yeah, I'm not just one of those persons who get all excited and probably jump around, just because it's my personality, it’s just who I am really. So yeah, hence the reason why I was just so calm. But yeah, I guess everybody's all excited.
Reporter: Hayley Matthew said on social media after that video came out that part of the reason for the reaction was that people, the West Indies team didn't think it would be possible perhaps a year ago to reach this point. What do you think's changed in the past year?
Stafanie: We've had some changes to our team. We have a new coaching staff. I believe that the work they have been doing with us has changed the way we go about our game. Some of ours’ game is changed because when you have - when we have those coaches who give us some insight on how we are playing versus how we should play. I feel like that kind of flicked the switch on us. This would be a second time being in a semifinal. And yeah, we want to relish the moment and go there and play hard cricket.
Reporter: Just following up on the previous question, the kind of World Cup that West Indies had in Australia. In 2022. Where you are right now facing Australia in World Cup semifinal again, as a captain, looking back how the last two years journey has been. You've been able to achieve so far in this tournament. Your thoughts on that?
Stafanie: I think we've come a long way. Probably it does not show so much with the scoresheet. But I feel like we have come a long way. Looking back on the series that we've played and as I said, like the coaching staff would have been, those persons who contributed so much to us as players and to where we at. I thought we had a really good start to the tournament, and I hope that that's something that we can use, to get us through in this backend.
Reporter: Hayley, Anisa and you have been top of wicket takers for you to the course of the tournament and you yourself bowled in the latter half of the league stage - with this being a day game and you've been there in Wellington for a while now. How do you look at that being as an advantage of sorts going into this game?
Stafanie: I guess it depends on the situation of the game. But yeah, I might see myself bowling probably a bit more tomorrow. Yeah, we've been here for some time now. And been in the nets and getting used to the conditions. So, that should help us in how we play tomorrow. Seeing that Australia has been here probably more often than we have, but we just have to take it as it comes. Tomorrow – we are prepared for tomorrow like a final and yeah, hopefully we are were the one who is on top.
Reporter: This must be for the West Indies - may be unsettling. So you've not had a full quarter of bowling 50 overs or batting 50 overs. I'd like to know how that has affects your preparations going into this.
Stafanie: We haven’t talked much about it. If there's a case where we have to bat the whole 50, We just have to go out there and know that we have to bat the whole 50. So it's not a case where we spoke about yeah we have had much 50 over games because of disruption by the weather, something that we can’t control. But whenever we do get a chance to go out and practice, we try to make use of it. Anything happens outside of that. It's just something that we cannot control. Tomorrow comes and we have 50 overs to bat, we have to try and make use of those 50 overs.
Reporter: And just some of your dismissal being bowled out on your leg, getting caught on the leg side. Has any of this affected your confidence whether it be bowling our batting?
Stafanie: No it hasn’t, it's not something that I really like to dwell on. I've just find it's a bit unfortunate. Good deliveries do get bowled. Whether it’s something just a bit technical or whatever, but it happens in cricket and it's not something that I dwell on because I know sometimes you get those freak dismissals, and yeah, it's just a part of the game. So it's not something I really dwell on.
Reporter: You were celebrating the South African victory - explain that that kind of feeling when Sophie come in. And then another question is that do you go for the toss if you guys win the toss will go for the batting first?
Stafanie: The toss I'm not sure what we're going to do. We'll have a chat with the coaches and then we'll decide - in terms of the game with South Africa and India. I mean it's really sad – a bitter sweet kind of moment - Yeah, we're elated to be in the semies. But I do feel for India, and to probably see Mithali and Goswami- not sure - don't quote me, might be their last World Cup. But yeah, it was a bittersweet moment. But on the flip side, I'm glad to be in the in the semies.
Reporter: What is the absence of somebody like an Elyse Perry mean to West Indies and potentially could mean to your side in a crunch game like the semifinals, especially considering she was the player of the match against you all in league stage game.
Stafanie: We haven't spoken about that. And I don't think is something that we were going to talk about. I feel like Australia is a strong team and whether Ellyse Perry is in or she's out, they're a strong team we still have to go with -go ahead with our plans and focus on what we need to do as a team and not too much on them. I didn't even know that she was out to be fair.
Reporter: The second question would be sort of a look back on the 2013 final between Australia and West Indies - you were obviously part of that match and several other members of the current West Indies team also featured in that game that did not go West Indies’ way, it was a pretty one sided final so to speak but you all did defeat Australia in the Super six stage of the tournament. Can you talk us through some of the memories from that tournament and whether there are takeaways from that or things you would want to redress to tomorrow semifinal against Australia?
Stafanie: That happened in 2013, I have no recollection to be fair. I remember zero, nothing. I'm not the person with any good memory. So I can't remember. Sorry.
Reporter: If you could just say something on Rachael Haynes who has come up with the goods in crucial situations, dug her team out when there have been collapses and she was really pretty good against you all with the bat as well. Can you share your thoughts on what Australia's vice-captain, the kind of threat she poses going into this tournament going into the semifinals?
Stafanie: Well, obviously Rach batting at the top is a crucial one for them. We have seen in - as you said, on many occasions, she's the one who kind of builds a platform for the team line out of batters to come. Not to get too deep into the Aussies. We do have our plans. Hopefully she's not there for tomorrow.
Reporter: I wanted to find out how did you keep the spirits of your teammates high while you were waiting to find out if you would qualify and does the test victory on the men's side - Does that give you and the team some motivation going into tomorrow's semifinals?
Stafanie: I believe that the break that we had probably helped a lot of the girls mentally and physically just to get a break away from the game, just to have that refreshment would be good.
To see what the men did in the test much definitely would have brought some more motivation into the group and just see the way the men defeated England, something that we could use to- And I believe we used to pump us into going into tomorrow's game that anything is possible. You just have to believe.