As the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup enters its decisive group stage phase, West Indies head coach Shane Deitz has expressed quiet confidence that his squad can secure a coveted semi-final berth this weekend, even after a late setback denied them an early qualification.\n\nDeitz opened up to reporters on the eve of Saturday’s high-stakes Group Two showdown with Ireland, noting that the team always saw a direct fight for a knockout spot as a favorable outcome heading into the tournament. A 2024 loss to England on Wednesday left the Caribbean side in a position where a single win against Ireland will seal their place in the final four of the global competition. Even if the side drops Saturday’s match, they still retain a narrow path to advancement: they will move on if England defeats New Zealand in the group’s other final fixture.\n\nDespite the disappointing result against England, Deitz says his players have not lost momentum heading into the all-or-nothing match. “We’ve got a chance to win one game to get into the semi-final and you can’t ask for much more than that, so the journey’s been great,” the coach said. “We’ve played some good cricket, but we’ve still got areas we need to improve on, and I think if we could play the perfect game, we’re gonna have a good chance of winning tomorrow. Hopefully we can progress and then we’ll worry about playing the next game.”\n\nHistory offers mixed indicators for Saturday’s clash: Ireland claimed a win against the West Indies in a T20 meeting between the two sides earlier this April, but the West Indies hold a dominant 4-1 advantage in overall head-to-head results in the format.\n\nFor the West Indies program, reaching the semi-finals of this year’s tournament would mark a significant milestone, Deitz argued, pointing to the unprecedented competitiveness of the 2024 World Cup and unfamiliar playing conditions that have challenged his side. “This has been a really tough World Cup. A lot of teams are competitive and in conditions that we’re not used to, so for us to make the semi-finals it’d be a massive achievement by the girls,” he said. “All the staff have put a lot of hard work and prep into this, so it’ll be just a great reward for the amount of blood, sweat and tears we’ve put into the last six months.”\n\nLooking ahead to the match against Ireland, Deitz pinpointed the team’s bowling unit as the key area that needs improvement to lock in the win. In the loss to England, he explained, sloppy bowling in the power play allowed the European side to jump out to an early, unassailable lead that the West Indies could not recover from.\n\n“I thought the England game we bowled pretty poorly and (in) the power play let them get away to a flyer. We need to bowl much tighter in that power play and try to get ahead of the game and then control the middle overs a bit more with our spinners,” Deitz said. “In particular, we really gotta start well with the ball and make sure we get on top. Getting a couple of early wickets in the power play is really crucial in these conditions, because once the team gets away they’re hard to pull back. That’s probably the biggest area we need to improve on for tomorrow.”