West Indies should give Schultz an opportunity in today’s final ODI

The West Indies Women have lost against South Africa Women 2-1, and against New Zealand Women 2-1, and are now on the brink of a whitewash against England in the One Day International Series.
The Hayely Matthews-led side will seek to avoid a whitewash in today’s (Friday December 9) final ODI, being played at Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua starting from 13:00h. Guyanese Kaysia Schultz is the only uncapped player in the side, and she should be given an opportunity, with the series already lost.
Schultz, a 25-year-old uncapped left-arm spinner who was in West Indies squads against England, South Africa and New Zealand, was among the wickets in the last regional tournament, held in Guyana. Schultz was the leading spin bowler in the 2022 T20 Blaze tournament, where she claimed eight wickets in four matches at a stellar average of 6.87.
Only Barbadian Shanika Bruce had more wickets than Schultz, she having claimed nine wickets in five innings.
Additionally, after two matches, the West Indies batting has been poor, with Rashada Williams being the only batter to surpass 50 in an innings. Williams, who has 88 in her two innings, including an unbeaten 54, has led the batting charts for West Indies. Kycia Knight has 39 runs in two innings, while Hayley Matthews has 35 runs in the two matches.
Meanwhile, Head Coach of the West Indies team, Courtney Walsh, has lamented the poor batting in both games. “In both games, we haven’t batted well,” Walsh said after Tuesday’s humiliating defeat.
“We were a lot better with the ball in this game on a good batting track, and for the score where we had them at 260, I thought we would have batted better.”
Walsh reserved praise for Rashada Williams, who stood out among the batters. “We lost those early wickets and just never recovered,” he said. “The batters can take a lot from Rashada’s performance. I am pleased with how she went about it, and showed that it can be done. We have a lot at stake with one game remaining, and we need to get championship points. Our momentum is good, but performance and execution, we have to try and get better.”
The likes of senior players Hayley Matthews, Shemaine Campbelle and Chedean Nation will have to come to the party and save West Indies from a whitewash in the final ODI. Moreover, with the future being important, young players should be given more opportunities and take more responsibility. (Brandon Corlette)