GROS ISLET, St Lucia (CMC) — West Indies Women’s Captain Hayley Matthews said her side had bigger challenges ahead, but they welcomed the clean sweep of their home international series against Ireland that ended on Saturday in St Lucia.

The Caribbean side sent the visitors back home without a win on the entire tour after sweeping the Twenty20 International series 3-0, after they had won the preceding series of three One-Day Internationals (ODIs) for ICC Women’s Championship points 2-0, with the second ODI washed out.

“The girls have supported me from day one — from the time I’ve taken up the captaincy — and I’m so grateful for every single one of them that has been out there supporting me,” she said in an interview with CWI Media.

“We have been going on the field and fighting for each other every day, and I think we all know that we gotta keep working, keep trying to improve; and I think this series against Ireland was just one test for us.

“We’ve crossed this hurdle and we have bigger tests coming up soon, so I think for us it’s just about going out there and preparing really well and getting ready for the next battle.”

Matthews said seeing some of the newer members of the squad performing at critical times was satisfying and will be useful in higher-intensity tussles later in the year.

“It was great to see some of the young girls getting an opportunity this series, and kind of come into their own and to be leading from the front and setting a good example. I think that’s something as a captain that you want to be doing really well,” she said. “So I agree that we were able to go out there and win this series, and all the young girls were able to get the opportunity but at the same time watch a lot of the older girls really step up as well and take ownership for their game and put down some serious performances.”

She added: “I think when we really do look around the team and we talk about accomplishments, we’ve had players who made their debut and performed, really. And we’ve had someone like Chinelle Henry come and get her first half-century and then back it up with another half-century and then two not outs in the T20s, which has been really good to see.

“We had Stafanie returning from injury and doing really well in the ODIs so it’s just really good to watch all the girls contribute throughout the entire series, and [to] play alongside them in a winning one.”

For Matthews it was a personally gratifying series against the Irish women. She was Player of the Match in all three T20Is, Player of the Series in the T20Is, and started the ODI series in similar fashion, having scored a hundred and taken three wickets.

“I’m pretty pleased,” she said. “Coming into the series and every time that I put on my West Indies jersey I try to go out there and do really well — whether that be batting, bowling or fielding — and I was able to do pretty well in more than one area of my game this series, which I’m obviously pretty happy with and happy with the way I was able to go out and contribute to the team’s success as well.

“I probably would have wanted to get one or two more not out in the games; and Coach [Robert Samuels] has been on my back about that a little bit.”

This was the only home international series for West Indies Women for the year, and they will be under new management when Shane Deitz takes over the head coaching role in late August ahead of their tour of his native Australia in October.