Mature Matthews leads West Indies' girl-power revolution
Wed, Oct 12, '16
Carlos Brathwaite's final-over whirl will forever define the the 2016 World T20, aided by Ian Bishop's compelling, word-perfect call. "Remember the name!" But in less hectic surrounds five hours earlier, Hayley Matthews, another Barbadian, made a name for herself on one of cricket's biggest stages.
In the women's final, she flummoxed Australia's bowlers with 66 from 45 balls, opening the innings and hunting down their 148. After she popped Megan Schutt over the fence and deep midwicket, and Ellyse Perry back over her head early in the chase, the three-times women's champions never recovered.
At the start of the tournament, Matthews was 17 going on 18; by its conclusion she was the Player of the Final. "To this day I still am trying to find words for it," Matthews tells ESPNcricinfo in a discussion of her Kolkata heroics and her story to date.
Four decades ago Janis Ian sang of the pitfalls of the awkward ages - of solitude, despair and expectations routinely failing to meet reality. But Matthews' experience of those testing years strays from that narrative. Self-assured and ambitious, considered and calm, she's as impressive in conversation as she is in the middle.
