SOUTHAMPTON, England (CMC) — West Indies Women’s head coach Shane Deitz and captain Hayley Matthews believe the regional side is well prepared to do battle against defending champions New Zealand in their ICC Women’s T20 World Cup opener on Saturday.

The two teams met in the semi-finals of the T20 World Cup in 2024, with New Zealand narrowly scraping home by eight runs in a low scoring contest.

This time around, Deitz said he expected another fiercely contested match between the two teams, which he believes are evenly constructed.

However, the head coach gave no details as to if star all-rounder Chinelle Henry, who was injured on Wednesday in a warm-up match against Australia and had to be stretchered off, would be available to play.

“It doesn’t really matter who we’re playing against. Obviously, New Zealand is a good team and they’re the defending champions and it was a good game we had with them in Dubai two years ago and if things had gone our way we probably would have gotten the better of them,” Deitz admitted.

“I think we’re two pretty evenly matched teams, so it will be really important to get off to a good start because it’s a real important game. I think we’re ready for it, the girls have had so much prep, so I think we’re just at that stage where we’re ready to go.”

Deitz said he expected conditions at the venue to favor both batters and bowlers.

“There’s been a lot of rain and it’s been pretty cold recently, so I expect the wicket to have something in it for the bowlers, particularly with the new ball, but usually when that happens over here on these really good grounds the ball comes on to the bat too.

“So I think if you bowl in good areas, you’re going to get a lot of assistance out of it and if you get in and bat well you can make a big score too,” he said.

Meanwhile, Matthews, who was part of the Windies’ 2016 World Cup winning squad, said she expected her troops to be at their best at the marquee tournament.

She said starting on a winning note was especially important.

“As a team, we are pretty prepared for the tournament. World Cups are usually where we as West Indian sides bring out our best performances so hopefully that’s something we can replicate.

“The first game against New Zealand is obviously going to be pretty important because it’s a big team, but at the same time in a World Cup we’re going to have to prepare for every single match. It’s about taking it one game at a time. Everybody’s pretty excited for the start of it and hopefully we can begin on a really positive note when we do get out there in the first match,” Matthews said.