On October 2, 2023, at the North Sydney Oval, Hayley Matthews had blazed away to a 64-ball 132. Partnering her at the other end for most of her innings was Stafanie Taylor who had crunched a 41-ball 59. The two combined to add 174 for the second wicket as West Indies had done the inevitable - beat Australia by chasing down 213.

Since neither the Australians nor the West Indians want to look too seriously into the 2016 T20 World Cup final upset, this contest remains West Indies' only hope to serve as a reminder that they can beat Australia when the two teams meet on Tuesday at the Oval.

Matthews knows they need a freak performance like that, which many in her side are capable of pulling off on their day. And for that, she is invoking a rather curious idea - 'we have nothing to lose'. The odds are heavily staked in favour of Australia, who have been unbeaten in the tournament. While West Indies, on the other hand, have just stumbled to the semis after being humbled by Ireland in their last group game.

"I just feel like when we step out onto that field, everyone's expecting us not to win, in a sense," Matthews admitted on Monday, a day ahead of the semifinal clash. "When you go into a game with people probably looking at you thinking that if you do win, it's going to be a surprise, you certainly feel like that you can just go there (and) be free.

"I almost feel like a bit more of the pressure is on a team like Australia who are going to be expected to beat us. And if they don't, it'll probably be a massive disappointment for them. So even though we have a lot of care and a lot of passion and we want to win, we're certainly not expected to, I think, by the masses. And that eases a bit of the pressure off of our shoulders when it comes to expectations."

But, as Matthews claims, it is also the best way to spur her team on is by telling them that they don't stand a chance.

"I feel like we kind of show up almost every single time we come to a World Cup. I don't know what it is within the group - if it's the passion or the drive, but I certainly feel like there is a sense of loving to prove people wrong and knowing that, yes, we have to prove ourselves over and over. But I think it drives a lot of our players, and we try to use it as motivation and use it as fuel to just want to play harder and want to prove ourselves every single time."

It's not out of place that West Indies beat the defending champions and then lost to one of the lower-ranked teams in a matter of just over a week. The extremes of West Indies' performance have existed for quite a while - too dependent on performances from Matthews, Deandra Dottin and Taylor to win them games.

"Then we obviously had the game against Ireland the other day, where it was the complete opposite. We were probably expected to win a bit easier as well, and I don't want to say choke, but we choked up a little bit.

"I think there is an added fire to us when people think we can't get the job done. And I'm not just saying that. I think I see it amongst the group and even within the huddle before we step out onto the field. You can always sort of feel a different sense of energy when it is that people are doubting us. And I think we just relish in that a lot of the time."

It's not a knowledge that resides only with Matthews. Even Ash Gardner, the Australian all-rounder admitted as much, that some of the players in the West Indies team are quite capable of turning the game around all by themselves. She leant more towards her personal experience of playing alongside Deandra Dottin.

"They're a completely different threat," Gardner said of Australia's semifinal opponents. "They've got a lot of class and a lot of firepower within their team. Also a lot of experience, obviously led brilliantly by Hayley Matthews, who's a player that can take away a game pretty quickly.

"But then you look at someone like Deandra Dottin, she's a threat in all three phases of the game. She's a fantastic player. I've had the privilege of playing with her, and I guess just seeing how she goes about her cricket, she's so fearless in the way that she approaches it, which sometimes can be quite scary because she can flick a switch pretty quickly. But then just to see the inexperience as well that they've got and that rawness that they've got within their side. They definitely pose a different threat."

All the threat aside, on paper it's still not a match, and Matthews has resigned to that fact. The recent record that West Indies have had - despite their qualification to the semis - isn't the most impressive. Heading into the World Cup, they came without a win in the home series against Australia and Sri Lanka, and then lost to Ireland in the tri-series. Yet, they got their World Cup campaign going with three successive wins.

Matthews has confessed that the big players will need to put on a special show if they have to go past the strongest team in women's cricket. Matthews herself is among the most critical players in the side, having played the lead role in both of West Indies' T20I wins against Australia till date. Against Australia, she boasts a batting average of 46.09, apart from picking 15 wickets in 13 games. Stafanie Taylor has been another big figure who has turned up with the bat against Australia repeatedly, scoring five half-centuries in 18 matches.

"We're going to need big performances from big players," Matthews admitted. "We're certainly going to need a standout individual performance. To beat a team like Australia, you still need more than one player, and we're going to have to have our best players really stepping up to the plate tomorrow. Players like Aliyah Alleyne, Jahzara Claxton, they've been great role players throughout the tournament. And I think with our stars alongside players like them really playing massive roles, we're going to have to put together an all-round game as a group.

"I've said multiple times that we haven't had our best match yet. We haven't had the likes of myself or Deandra Dottin in the runs really. And that leaves a lot of room for improvement for us as a team. So hopefully we can see some of us stepping up a bit more and taking it to the Aussies."

Matthews further praised the role of the non-star figures in the side for taking West Indies so far in the competition, reserving special words for Aaliyah Alleyne.

"They (younger players) obviously are coming up against people who they saw, I guess, ruling the cricket world a bit when they were a bit younger. And I know they look up to a few of those players. At the same time, I know it'll mean so much to them if they can come up against them and perform really well too. So they're definitely going to be out there gunning for them, I hope. Our young players are full of passion and drive as well, so I know they'll use that to their best advantage.

"I haven't made a 50. Deandra Dottin hasn't gotten runs. Chinelle Henry's got one score. Stafanie Taylor hasn't gotten a 50. And we're winning games, and that's probably something that we haven't seen in a very, very, very long time. So the fact that we have other people - and it certainly feels like we have a team collectively getting the job done rather than one or two players pulling the weight.

"It certainly means that we have so much better that we can get if we do see some of our bigger players step up. So I think it's just about us going out there and actually executing it and getting the job done. But it certainly leaves a scope for a lot of belief for us."

In some ways it's convenient to believe that West Indies are awaiting a miracle. Yet, all the statements don't necessarily stand in sync with it. They of course have to go into the contest believing that they can win. Was Matthews setting up the stage for Australia to expect a win would come easy for them, while also telling her own team that everyone is talking them down? The codes in pre-match talks can be hard to decipher. There was plenty of honesty in Matthews' words for sure, but in doing so, she also ensured that Australia's expectation need not necessarily be its shield as much as its target.