New Zealand not underestimating winless West Indies

The West Indies is still searching for a first win at the ICC Women’s World Cup 2017 but that doesn’t mean New Zealand will underestimate the side, according to batter Katie Perkins.

The White Ferns side finds itself in a precarious situation, having already had one game washed out, and lost to Australia on Sunday. It means victory over the West Indies side, which has lost all three games to date, is a must.

But Perkins is confident New Zealand can find form and get right back into the semi-final hunt, with matches against potential knock-out rivals India and England still to come.

She said: “From the very start it was always going to be a very competitive tournament. Dropping one game to Australia is not the be all and end all and washouts are something inevitable when you are over in England.

“It’s only going to take other games around us to get washed out and things even up.

“Our destiny is still in our hands, we win all our games from here and there shouldn’t be an issue in making the top four.

“Playing the West Indies, you’re sometimes not sure what team is going to turn up on the day.

“Now that they’ve had three losses in a row, and then a big one against South Africa, things are not going so well for them but they’re potentially more dangerous than ever as they will come out with nothing to lose.

“They’ve got absolute matchwinners in their side and we have to go out and play our best cricket regardless of how they have been performing.

“If we play our best, hopefully the result will go our way.”

The West Indies came into the tournament as a dark horse, but so far has struggled with three losses – including a thumping 10-wicket defeat to South Africa in Leicester on Sunday.

Currently bottom of the pile, only victory would keep the West Indies in contention for the semi-finals, but opener Hayley Matthews says the team hasn’t given up on a place in the knock-out stages.

She said: “We still have a possibility of qualifying if we win our next three games so we just need to go out there and fight as hard as we can in the next match and hope things go our way.

“New Zealand have a very good squad but we do as well, on our day we are capable of beating anyone and I believe once we go out there and perform as best we can, execute what we have been working on then we will go out there and beat them.

“We have been down here for a month now working really hard, I think the girls have adjusted well but I think we have been putting in the work but it just hasn’t show in the results.”

In New Zealand, the match will be live on SKY Sport 1, Skygo, Fanpass and Sky.co.nz, while it can be watched live in the West Indies on ESPN2 Caribbean and Espnplay.com.

Squads:

New Zealand: Suzie Bates (captain), Erin Bermingham, Sophie Devine, Maddie Green, Holly Huddleston, Leigh Kasperek, Amelia Kerr, Katey Martin, Thamsyn Newton, Katie Perkins, Anna Peterson, Rachel Priest, Hannah Rowe, Amy Satterthwaite and Lea Tahuhu

West Indies: Stafanie Taylor (captain), Merissa Aguilleira, Reniece Boyce, Shanel Daley, Deandra Dottin, Afy Fletcher, Qiana Joseph, Kycia Knight, Kyshona Knight, Hayley Matthews, Anisa Mohammed, Subrina Monroe, Chedean Nation, Akeira Peters and Felicia Walters

Umpires – Ahsan Raza and Adrian Holstock

Match referee – Steve Bernard

Points Table (as on 4 July, before Australia v Pakistan, England v South Africa. India v Sri Lanka and New Zealand v West Indies matches):