THERE was a clear sense of frustration in Hayley Matthews’ body language and tone of voice yesterday after her side were comprehensively beaten in the third One Day International against Australia.

Reflecting on the series as a whole, Matthews said that her nation had to find a way for a more even batting contribution.

“Quite disappointing for a lot of us, especially throughout that ODI series, obviously not being able to get totals on the board,” she said. “The batters are going to have to have a really hard look at themselves and find a way to score but at the same time we know we’re playing against the best team in the world.

“We knew coming down here it was going to be challenging, but I think for us there’s losing and then there’s probably losing with the performances that we lost with. I think on reflection I know we can do better and should be doing a bit better.”

Matthews had a pretty simple solution for how her team can improve and be more competitive.

“I think just working harder, wanting to be better as players, finding ways, doing more research on our own game and the opposition that we come up against as well,” she said. “I think there’s a lot of factors that can go into improving your game.

“Obviously with the structure we have back home it is quite difficult to get really good match practise, the reason why tournaments like the WCPL that we’ve just been a part of is so, so important. But I think it goes hand in hand with the board and the players to want to get more infrastructure and at the same time for the players to want to work harder on their game and become better as well.”

A number of her teammates, including the likes of Rashada Williams and Cherry-Ann Fraser are now about to head off on an A Tour to Pakistan, and Matthews is excited for what good match practice this will provide.

“I think we’ve got seven girls from this tour heading out there, and I think it’s going to be a great level of cricket for them to go and play and not only learn but hopefully get some confidence from the games as well,” Matthews said.

“I think it’ll be a real test for them and a real tell for them to see where they’re at personally. Obviously Australia is quite tough competition, but over in Pakistan and getting the opportunity to play the a team stuff, I think the girls should be coming up against other ladies that hopefully they can go on and perform well against.”

There were a number of very young members of the West Indian squad this series, including the likes of Djenaba Joseph and Zaida James, and Matthews knows better than most how hard it must have been for them in a series like this one.

“They’re coming up against competition that they’ve never ever played against back home in the West Indies or even at the under 19 level, but I think for them playing against players like Kim Garth and Annabel Sutherland, Megan Schutt an experienced campaigner, is only going to help them learn,” Matthews said.

“For the leaders and seniors in the team we just try to encourage them as best as possible to not get down by their performances but I guess instead try to learn from them as much as they can and we’ll help them through that process as well.”