BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (CMC) — Teenaged opener Hayley Matthews says she is keen on converting her experiences in the recent Women’s Big Bash into strong performances for West Indies on the upcoming tours.

The 17-year-old is part of the squad for the tour of South Africa later this month and the ICC Twenty20 World Cup which follows in March in India, and believes her campaign Down Under can greatly benefit the Caribbean side.

“It was a really good experience for me to be going over there and playing in the first- ever Big Bash. I didn’t do as well as I wanted, but as I said, it was a really good experience,” said Matthews, who played for Hobart Hurricanes.

“Just being able to adjust to different conditions and stuff like that [was a learning experience]. Playing in the semi-finals and a couple of other games, rain fell and the overs got reduced and just learning to adapt to different conditions [was good].”

She added: “Also, batting at number four for them, that really helped me a lot with learning to play a different role also.”

Matthews made her international debut less than a year-and-a-half ago, but has quickly become a fixture at the top of the order for the Windies.

She has excelled more in the 50-overs format, where she averages nearly 30 from 12 innings and already has three half-centuries. With the ball she has taken 16 wickets with her off-spin at less than 20 apiece.

And with the South Africa tour set to precede the World Cup campaign, Matthews said she was anxious to strike form early.

“I always want to do well, so I am looking to try and get some runs [in] South Africa and then hopefully carry some forward into the World Cup and do well for the team.”

One of the youngest members of the side, Matthews is surrounded with several veteran campaigners, and she said this contributed to a strong team spirit where there was always someone available to offer advice on aspects of her game.

“The girls all gel together. It’s a really good team. There are a lot of people you can really look up to in this team,” she noted.

“A lot of times when it comes to my bowling, I go to Anisa Mohammed who’s another very experienced player and I talk to Shakera Selman a lot, who’s the vice -captain now, so there’s a lot of people you can go to in this team.”