Mid-over, Dottin broke down into an ugly cry. Tears poured from her as she scowled at the situation. Matthews and Chinelle Henry had to form a protective shield and coax her back from the brink. Whatever they said worked and Dottin fired in a yorker and another full ball that found the edge to close out the over well but the enormity of the situation had clearly affected her. What exactly was going on?

“It was just about the nerves that were going around. Being one of the leaders in the team, Hayley, myself, and a couple others just went and made her realise that she’s probably one of the best death bowlers we have in the team,” Henry said at the post-match press conference. “It was just about backing her skills, and she came out of that over pretty well. Deandra is one of those persons who is very emotional, a very passionate person who wears her heart on her sleeve. It’s just about trying to get her to remember that she is one of the best players we have to be out there at this moment. There were a lot of emotions going around at that time.”

That Matthews, once Dottin’s junior, and Henry, who was herself not fully fit after she sustained an injury in the warm-up match and then missed the first game, had to convince one of their most decorated players of her worth tells you as much as you need to know about West Indies’ insecurity.

It’s also worth remembering that Dottin has a history when it comes to hysterics. In 2017, when West Indies were bowled out for their second-lowest total of 48 by South Africa in the ODI World Cup in Leicester, Dottin also sobbed. Then, she was dismissed for a duck and conceded 23 off 3.2 overs, including the winning runs.

That tournament took place a year after West Indies were crowned T20 World Cup champions in 2016 but they were not even close to being in the running for the ODI cup. They finished sixth of the eight teams competing, and won only two of their seven matches. Since then, Dottin has tried to end her relationship with West Indies and retired in 2022, saying that “the current climate and team environment has been non-conducive to my ability to thrive and reignite my passion.” Two years later, she reversed that decision and said she was returning “enthusiastic about mentoring younger players and contributing to the overall development of women’s cricket in our region.”

She played the 2024 T20 World Cup, where West Indies reached the semi-final, and was their leading run-scorer at the event, so it may be a case of unfinished business that brought on the waterworks against Scotland. “Because she cares so much, it breaks her when she can’t do what she wants for the team,” Matthews told the post-match broadcast.

It’s fair to read that as a desperation to do well, and it seems to run through West Indies. After defeating defending champions New Zealand, thanks to a long-in-the-making career-best 90* from their most-capped T20I player, Shermaine Campbelle, they may have thought the hardest bit was over. But Scotland have recent history ofdumping West Indies out of tournaments and beat them in the ODI World Cup Qualifier last April. Losing to them would complicate matters, especially with matches against the hosts and before that Sri Lanka, who beat West Indies in a series in March, to come.

If you want to know what kind of pressure Sri Lanka have been able to absorb, watch the way Nilakshika Silva batted against New Zealand.

Sri Lanka had been downed by a massive 87 runs in the tournament opener by England. Their coach Jamie Siddons was so angry he could barely unclench his jaw to speak afterwards and chasing 151 against New Zealand, they slipped from 45 without loss in the powerplay to 55 for 4 in the ninth over. Their best batters were back in the dugout, or so we thought.

Nilakshika, who is 36 years old and had just one half-century to her name in 115 T20Is before this, should have been dismissed for 1 when she top-edged a sweep off Amelia Kerr. Inexplicably, New Zealand’s catching has been slippery throughout and the ball burst through Bree Illing’s hands at short fine. It took Nilakshika 12 balls before she found the boundary for the first time, off none other than New Zealand’s oldest hand on the day, Sophie Devine.

Sri Lanka needed 65 runs off 42 balls, with four wickets down and should have been favourites but on a seven-match losing streak at T20 World Cups, their odds were long. Nilashika didn’t care. She went after Devine again, this time in the field, when she sent Rosemary Mair towards Devine at deep midwicket, and over her for six. The Sri Lankan team sat huddled together, cheering every run as though it was the winning one. Chamari Athapaththu, the captain on whom the team was thought to revolve and who hit the innings’ only other maximum, sat alone, as though in meditation, watching.

She would not have enjoyed what she saw next. Nilakshika urged Kavisha Dilhari to try and take two runs off the last ball of the 15th over but Dilhari was ball-watching. She stayed at the non-striker’s end as Nilakshika joined her and then sacrificed herself so her senior partner could bat on. Sri Lanka needed 46 runs off 30 balls and the onus rested on Nilakshika and young wicket-keeper Kaushini Nuthyangana. The next over only yielded seven runs, a light drizzle enveloped the ground and maybe Athapaththu looked away. She didn’t have to.

Nilakshika’s excellent use of the crease and her ability to make room for herself brought three more boundaries, including a lap over short fine, a gorgeously timed cover drive and a sweep as she charged down to meet Melie Kerr’s last ball. Very few people would have known Nilakshika had that kind of big-match temperament in here but someone did: her bowling coach. “When Silva is fielding, she is mid-off, mid-off both sides, so she is running more than anyone else and she has done a lot of awesome work,” Chamila Gamage said afterwards. “Today, under pressure, it is a fantastic thing for us because we lost the first game and we needed to win this match, otherwise we can’t go to the semi-finals. I thought she batted really well under pressure.”

Nilkashika barely celebrated her fifty, which came with 14 runs still needed off 12 balls but let her emotions out when Nuthyangana smeared the winning runs over the on-side. She looked skywards several times while her team-mates hugged and fist-bumped and whooped on the side and even then, there seemed a restraint to her jubilation. Job done, more jobs to do, perhaps?

And that is what sets up the first match of Super Sunday as a West Indian side who are clearly feeling the heat take on a Sri Lankan team strutting around coolly. A place in the semi-final is on the cards for both. Victory for West Indies will see them take a massive step towards the final four but a Sri Lanka win keeps the group that many thought was a foregone conclusion before the tournament, tasty.

The crunch match between West Indies and Sri Lanka takes place in Bristol and starts at 10.30am.

[Cricinfo]