 On the Sports Mac Zone, Haley Matthews again led from the front but it was not enough to secure a historic series win as Weston's woman went down to Australia by 47 runs in the third and final T20 International on Thursday morning, Caribbean time in Brisbane. An injured Matthews struck 79 in the Wendy's pursuit of 191 for victory while the Caribbean woman never recovered from her dismissal and were eventually bowled out for 143 with one ball remaining. Aliyah Alain was the only other Wendy's batter to pass 20, stroking 4-4 in her knock of 26. Darcy Brown and Ashley Gardner were the pick of the Aussie bowlers with three wickets each. Early in the match, Talia McGrath and Elise Perry with 65 and 40 respectively pushed the host to 190 for nine. Chamele Connell was the best Wendy's bowler with three for 25. Let's hear now from Matt Hughes who secured her eighth consecutive playoff the match award. It was a bit tougher to start out there today, I think the wicket was a bit slower and probably had to kind of change the areas of the field I was accessing today and go a bit more leg side. I think the last five overs we bowled probably went for a few too many. I think we did a really good job in the middle to get a couple of wickets and slowed only scoring rate and then obviously that last 10 overs and we were batting, we kind of crumbled and fell apart there. All right team, so something to smile about, we'll start on a positive note. Team Matthews continues to entertain us and I'm in awe of her performances. She walked away from these matches against Australia as playoff the series and you know what bothers me is the fact that she was able to do this with an injury. We have other bats woman on the team and they're fit and they're doing well and what's going on? Well here's what I think first of all. I think today's knot from Haley Matthews was a greater demonstration of her quality than the 99 or the 132. Part of the reason for this, she had the quad issue and it was clear that that was hampering her movement at the crease. Still she was able to take it to the Australian bowlers. The other aspect of it is that the Australians were a lot better this time around than they were when she scored 132. Clearly they made the adjustments in terms of not giving Haley Matthews as much room on or outside the line of the oast dump and they tried to get the ball swinging back into her forcing her to play more leg side and as soon as she got her eye in earlier she had a few massive strikes and missed completely but as soon as she got her eye in she was able to find the boundary with some amount of regularity. This was a high quality knock and I continue to say it Lance and Mariah and I don't think a lot of people understand the quality of Haley Matthews as a women's international batter and I've said it before she is not yet well overall career wise performing at the level that her talent suggests that she can. She has gone a long way in 2023 in improving on that and definitely in this Australia series demonstrating a lot closer to what she is capable of but I don't think she is quite there yet. Believe it or not. Yeah and as a track and field man yourself Ricardo I want to highlight the fact that we're talking here about a two sport international. She won two silver medals in the Javelin at the Corrifta Games for Barbados and then a gold medal and that gold medal coming just the year before she was a top performer for the West Indies in their World Cup triumph in 2016. So this is a genuine athlete and I agree with you 100 percent Ricardo that her career statistics at the moment don't show what her real ability is because her batting average in T20s is still in the mid 20s I think and we see what she can deliver. Australia are the undisputed world number one in women's cricket the reigning world champions in women's T20 cricket and the fact that they had no answer for three consecutive matches to Haley Matthews tells you that this is a batter that is genuinely world class and the fact that she was player of the match twice three times three times and player of the series in a series that her team lost says mountains for her performance in this series. And team I want to get your views on this because earlier today Haley Matthews in the post match press conference was asked about this and to me it really stood out and I feel that's the reason why we're not seeing the best of her yet. She was asked if she always feels as if the result is dependent on how she performs if she feels pressured that you know she really has to go out there and deliver else. The team has no chance right. She responded you know she said yes she understands that she has to make a big impact. It can get stressful but that's what she has to do as a leader. And I find when I watch Haley Matthews in her club competitions when you know she can just go and be free and be herself. I see a different Haley Matthews versus the one that has the title of captain and has to ensure that she puts up solid scores in order to make her team competitive and help them get over the line. I think that's an area she's improved on significantly actually since she has become captain. I think before she became captain I find that there would be a lot of reckless strokes in a lot of her innings and she wouldn't be performing at the level but since she's taken on the responsibility I've seen a marked difference in how she approaches a lot of these knocks. But I also want to make the point Lance and Mariah this is important for me because I also want our viewers to understand the significance of what Haley Matthews did in this three match series. First of all she is the first player in women's T20 internationals to score over 300 runs in a three match series. So that in itself a record and a significant but that for me has to be one of the greatest performances by any West Indies butter man or woman in any series and I'm going to compare across formats now because I am rivaling this performance with what Brian Lara did in Sri Lanka in 2001 when he scored 688 runs in a three match test series. What Richard did in 1976 when the West Indies went to England and he scored 829 runs in that five match test series. That's the level that I think this three match performance of Haley Matthews is equivalent to or certainly without a doubt is in the discussion because as you pointed out Lance you are talking about undisputed number one ranked Australia in T20 cricket. We're talking about an Australian lineup full of depth. They probably have the most depth in all of women's cricket which is part of the reason they are number one in the world. And for Haley Matthews to go to Australia score over 300 runs when player of the series in every single player of the match in all three games and then get player of the series. And I think has to rank as one of the greatest batting performances in a series by any West Indian player man or woman. And now that you've referenced the brand Laura effort in Sri Lanka and the IVA Richard's effort in England back in 1976 we have to remember that Muralitha run during that series was unplayable to almost every batsman in the world. And the Sri Lankans completely dominated the series and for B.C. Lara to have scored over 600 runs in that series tells you that he was in a significantly higher class than any of his teammates for sure. But on the strength of his performance you know it was something special and memorable even to this day. And I think I agree with you Ricardo that what we've seen Haley Matthews achieve in this series 310 runs in a T20 series against the world's best teams is in that is in that class. If you put it on a scale yes it will the weight will be similar. I know the Aussies bowling may have been hampered a bit because Elise Perry who is an outstanding old rounder has an injury and hasn't bowled. She's playing in the series as a batter. But even without her the Australian bowling lineup is very very outstanding. Best in the world. I think it was at a point where they were so confident to switch up their team in the second T20. That's why you know I felt as if they didn't think that Westonese woman would have been able to beat them in that second T20. So they brought in different boulders they played with the team a bit. Yeah but also you as Lance also pointed out as well you just need to look at what the other batters and let's be honest. I know the question has been asked quite a lot why the other batsmen in or batters in the Westonese women's side are not as consistent. My simple answer is they don't have the quality to be consistent at that level. And so that's a large part of the reason they are not. Haley Mathews has the quality. He saw a bit of that from Steph as well. The one time she made that. Well Steph is a star. Steph is a champion because of that shot that she played today. So here's the thing with Stefano Taylor for me. I have found that whenever Stefano Taylor has to be or feels she has to be the aggressor she is not as potent. And it's part of the reason why she bats so well with Haley Mathews. And when Deandra Dottin was in the side why she batted so well with Deandra Dottin because when she has those types of players who are capable of dominating and she is the anchor I find that she is comfortable playing that role. She is not a big hitter is Stefano Taylor at least not in my opinion. She's a player who needs to build an innings and get herself in before she starts playing those big shots. And I think after Haley Mathews got out she probably felt that she needed to be the one to take on the Australian bowling. And I think it was just too soon in her innings. And so I would like to cut her some slack because those situations can be extremely difficult especially when you haven't been in them for some time. And she would not have been in them for some time. And it's different if you are setting a target as well because if you're setting a target as well you kind of have a target in your head. We want to get to one fifty one sixty but now when you know you're chasing one ninety it is a little bit different. Yeah. I want to make a quick point to just go back quickly to the balance of the team and the fact that Haley Mathews needs batting support for this West Indies team to flourish and to highlight the fact that her outstanding three hundred and ten aggregate in this series tells us a lot about the difference between her performance and the others because in that same brand or series that you referenced when he scored over six hundred runs the West Indies had Ram the Rissau and Chris Gale Carl Hooper and very good batsmen there. But they were unable to score anywhere close to what brand Laura had scored in the same way that the other batters in this series haven't been able to even touch the aggregate score that Haley Mathews has has put on the stat sheet. Yeah. And I also I'm glad you brought out that point Lance because I was looking at the makeup of this team. I know the job is difficult for the selectors. It as a selector I I don't know that I would want to be a selector because sometimes I feel as if you just can't get it right unless the team is winning all the time. But Natasha McLean in the women's CPL was only outscored by Haley Mathews and Deandra Dottin as West Indies players. Kaysia Knight 31 years old has been around a while also had a good women's CPL. I don't know if it is that the selectors went for a squad that could go across both the T20s and the 50 overmatches in Australia. But I would like to think that either Natasha McLean or Kaysia Knight could have been strongly considered in my opinion. There are more aggressive butters. They are better for the top of the order. And I would have gone with one of them opened with one of them. Kaysia Knight can also keep I would not be looking at Rashada Williams for T20 cricket because in my opinion she is not a T20 batter and it is shown by the fact that she is a traditional opener and she's batting all the way down at seven or eight or whatever it is. So in my opinion you don't need Rashada Williams in a T20 setup. Chameleon Campbell can wicket keep if you bring in Kaysia Knight or Natasha McLean. They both can wicket keep and I would have preferred to go with one of those give them the gloves or give the gloves to Chameleon Campbell and Rashada Williams would not have a spot in that team for me. And Ghaznabi I like the look at her but I think she could be even more effective in around that number five number six position rather than in the opening position. So I would consider those changes if I was in a position if I were in a position to be helping to select this first in this women's team. I like the idea of Natasha and Kaysia Knight but on that note team we're going to take a quick break and when we come back we have a lot more sports to talk.