Mooney sees T20 World Cup positives in West Indies win

Experienced Australia batter Beth Mooney believes her side's tour of the Caribbean is perfect preparation for this year's ICC Women's T20 World Cup.

The six-time Women's T20 World Cup champions commenced their white-ball series against the West Indies with an impressive 43-run victory over the Caribbean side in St Vincent on Thursday, with Mooney leading the way with a superb innings of 79 in a Player of the Match performance.

Mooney's 99-run partnership with fellow veteran Ellyse Perry (36) helped Australia amass a decent total of 164/6 at the Arnos Vale Ground, with the hosts struggling to gain much momentum throughout their run chase as they were restricted to just 121/6 in reply.

It was the first of six fixtures Australia will play in the Caribbean across the next fortnight and Mooney thinks this will help the side finalise their preparations for the T20 World Cup that commences in England on June 12.

"I think to play T20s at this time of the year leading into the T20 World Cup and against a great opposition in the West Indies is great, as well them being in foreign conditions, which we're going to face overseas in June and July," Mooney said at the post-match presentation.

"So (it was) very important for us and nice to start off on the right note."

While the Aussies were pleased to register the victory in the series opener, their performance was far from faultless as they grassed a handful of catches in the field that left skipper Sophie Molineux frustrated.

"We've been training here and we've caught most, so I'm not sure what it was tonight," Molineux admitted.

"I know we'll try and clean that up for the next game, that's for sure."

Molineux didn't bat or bowl during the contest as she continues to recover from a sore lower back, with Australia's captain revealing prior to the series that her fitness will continue to be monitored throughout the tour.

Opener Qiana Joseph (45) and experienced all-rounder Deandra Dottin (3/35) were among the best contributors for the West Indies during the match, while skipper Hayley Matthews managed just 11 runs and failed to pick up a wicket from three economical overs.

Matthews wants to see a better performance from her side in the second T20I on Saturday and knows she is among the players who need to improve.

"We need to just come back strong," Matthews said.

"It's going to be really important that we pick ourselves up. I think we can certainly take a positive out of how we bowled today, but over the last few matches, we've probably been disappointing with the bat.

"I'm obviously in a bit of a rut myself, and that's probably correlating to how we're going with the bat. But we certainly as a batting group have to figure out ways to score and ways to get better as a team."