“Thankful to Deandra for everything she’s done for West Indies cricket,” Matthews said when asked about her reaction to Dottin’s decision. “She’s obviously been a wonderful player for us over the last couple of years, and it’s sad to see her go, but at the same time if it’s something that she’s ready for, then supporting her 100%.”
Matthews said she hadn’t spoken to Dottin before the announcement and that she had “no interpretation” of Dottin’s comments about the team culture and environment.
“There have been many obstacles during my cricket career that I have had to overcome, however, the current climate and team environment has been non-conducive to my ability to thrive and reignite my passion,” Dottin wrote in her announcement. “With much sadness but without regret, I realise that I am no longer able to adhere to team culture and team environment as it has undermined my ability to perform excellently.”
While Matthews said she was “a bit disappointed with the result” against India, she was proud of what her team had achieved with a mix of seven West Indies-capped players among a clutch of players without prior international experienced.
“I think we put up a really good fight,” Matthews said. “The highlight was our first game against Pakistan and winning one out of three I think is better than a lot of people expected us to do. So although we didn’t have the result we wanted today, I still think we had a great tournament, and the girls were able to learn a lot for sure.
“Hopefully spurs West Indies and the entire Caribbean to want to put more into women’s cricket within the Caribbean. I think they’re doing a great job now. We just had our regional tournament, and if over the next couple of years we can continue to grow our domestic set-up, hopefully, we can see some younger players that we had today being able to compete at the highest level.”
Having had her first taste of international captaincy with Barbados, who secured a place at the Commonwealth Games on the strength of being T20 Blaze champions in 2019, Matthews was keen to carry on with West Indies.
“I would have learned a lot just throughout these three games, taking responsibility and working with a lot of the younger players who weren’t as experienced at this level,” she said. “The support I’ve gotten from the team has been amazing.
“You probably think that the pinnacle of the career is if you can lead out your nation or your country, so I think [it was] definitely something I eyed up. But [I’m] just grateful that I’ve been given the opportunity to lead not only Barbados but the region as well and really humbled by it.”