Scotland vs West Indies: The emerging rivalry in women’s cricket

The sides last met at the 2025 WODI qualifiers in Lahore, where a Hayley Matthews century was not enough to prevent West Indies succumbing to an 11-run defeat. Meanwhile, West Indies comprehensively won their last T20 matchup at the 2024 World Cup, chasing down 100 in under 12 overs.

This is a huge game for both sides as they try to build on their first wins of the tournament. The outcome won’t decide whether they reach the semi-finals, but a win here will make it much easier. Winning all five games in the group stage will guarantee progression. Winning four might not be enough if results don’t go your way. And there’s always a chance that rain will play a part, English summer being the oxymoron that it is.  

Since the game in Pakistan, both sides have had some changes. For the West Indies, Shabika Gajnabi and Cherry-Ann Fraser have been replaced by Jannillea Glasgow and Jahzara Claxton, who are now regular starters. As their first game against New Zealand and their T20 series win over South Africa showed, the team is less dependent on captain Hayley Matthews doing the heavy lifting, though it still requires a whole-team effort.

The biggest change for Scotland is the return of slow left-armer Kirstie Gordon. Gordon switched to England in 2018 to get herself a full-time contract and a chance to play more international cricket, which Cricket Scotland could not offer at the time. After playing one Test, she quickly fell out of favour with the ECB higher-ups and was consigned to England A team cricket for several years.

While being overlooked on the sidelines, Gordon’s relationship with the ECB deteriorated. Things came to a head last year in a T20 Blast semi-final game for her domestic team, The Blaze, who Gordon captains. Before the game, The Blaze’s England internationals Amy Jones and Nat Sciver-Brunt asked to withdraw. After they lost the game, Gordon relayed this information to the media at the post-match press conference, only for the ECB to release a statement of their own contradicting Gordon, saying it was the ECB’s decision for them not to play. It seemed to be the final straw, with Gordon switching allegiances back to Scotland a few months later.

It is hard to overstate what Gordon offers the Scotland set-up. She is a lock-in for four overs of bowling every game, a handy pinch-hitter down the order, and most importantly, brings experience and leadership to what is still a young team. In a peculiar twist, Kathryn Bryce is the captain of Scotland, but Gordon is her captain at The Blaze.

The links to county cricket for Scotland don’t end there, as most players in the Scotland squad have an English county contract. For top-division players like the Bryce sisters, along with Darcey Carter and Katherine Fraser, this guarantees up to 32 games in a domestic season, plus any games offered by The Hundred. Even without The Hundred, this is almost three times as many domestic matches as their Caribbean counterparts, who have suffered from fixture cutbacks in the Women’s Super 50 and WCPL this year.

The extra games, combined with access to top-quality county facilities and coaching, have allowed the Scots to rapidly accelerate their development. Carter and Fraser have formed a reliable opening partnership, which gives the Scottish top order a little more depth and allows the Bryce sisters to come in at three and four, where they are more suited. Rachel Slater is another player to keep an eye on. The left-arm medium pacer plays her cricket for Yorkshire and is more familiar with the conditions at Headingley than anyone. There’s also the 17-year-old Gabriella Fontenla, a right-arm medium pacer playing in the Yorkshire Academy, who can clock 111 kph with the ball consistently and is Scotland’s X-factor pick.

The return of Gordon, and the county deals, were the first part of a process to excise many of the demons that have hung over the team in recent years. Last month, Scotland hosted a tri-series, which represented their first home games since 2022 due to financial constraints. This problem was highlighted by Cricket Scotland turning down an offer from Pakistan’s women’s team to tour last year, as CS couldn’t afford the £100,000 ($135,000 USD) to host them.

The tri-series allowed them to settle a few scores on the pitch, with their two wins over the Netherlands making up for the defeats the Dutch handed them at both the qualifiers and the ICC Emerging Nations tournaments earlier this year. In the same tri-series, Scotland also beat Bangladesh for the very first time, another team that has plagued Scotland in the qualifiers for major tournaments.

Despite the recent upturn in performances, Scotland go into the game against the West Indies with several weaknesses. Their batting has strengthened slightly since the last time the sides met, but it is still rather fragile and not very deep. If Carter, Fraser, and the Bryce sisters don’t score runs, there isn’t much left beyond that.

The loss of Abtaha Maqsood to injury is also a blow. Maqsood is a dependable leg-spinner and one of Scotland’s more economical bowlers. Hannah Rainey, her replacement, is a medium-pacer and not a like-for-like choice.

The final challenge for Scotland is their inexperience when it comes to playing under floodlights. The last T20 game they played under them was at the World Cup two years ago, and their match with New Zealand on Saturday showed what a lack of practice under the lights can do to a team’s fielding. If the West Indies are chasing again on Thursday, the Scots will have to sharpen up.

Both teams will know that their best chance of winning the game will be to go all in on the powerplay and hope the top order gets enough runs. If Scotland and West Indies play at their best, we’re in for another very exciting game of cricket.

The rivalry builds.