Let's be honest, you'd struggle to find someone who has watched women's cricket and isn't a hopeless romantic who actually thinks West Indies will beat Australia in the T20 World Cup semi-final. Even the statistics.
West Indies have only had two wins over Australia in 19 meetings, which speaks to the difficulties they've had in the past. Even though one of those victories was the T20 World Cup final in 2016, that was a decade ago, and "the game was a lot different at that time," West Indies' captain Hayley Matthews said at the press conference before the semi-final.
Matthews was a teenager at that match and scored a 45-ball 66, as West Indies chased 149 and lifted their only women's World Cup trophy. Since then, West Indies have made three T20 World Cup and one ODI semi-final but still, no-one expects them to go far and they've accepted that label. "When we step onto that field, everyone's expecting us not to win," Matthews said. The glint of resignation in her eyes quickly changed to a stare of steely resolve. Her raised eyebrow seemed to say, 'people think we can't do it. We'll show 'em.'
"There is a sense of loving to prove people wrong, while knowing that we have to prove ourselves over and over," Matthews said. "That drives a lot of our players and we try to use it as motivation or use it as fuel to just want to play harder and want to prove ourselves every single time."
Matthews does not ignore the fact that West Indies don't have a record that screams of success, especially recently, and put some of their labelling as underachievers down to that. "Realistically if you look at our T20 performances probably this year, we had some disappointing results in the Caribbean," she said.
In 2026, West Indies lost home series to Sri Lanka and Australia, and the first of those would have been particularly grating. They've also since lost two matches to Ireland - once in a rain-affected tri-series fixture in Dublin pre-tournament and then again at the weekend, as Ireland's secured their first T20 World Cup win. That result meant West Indies did not control their path to the semi-finals but had to rely on New Zealand losing to England (though West Indies did beat New Zealand on the way) and saw them enter the knockouts after a chastening defeat. Matthews recognised their journey to the final four has not been ideal.
"As a group, we were disappointed," she said. "We didn't want to have to depend on results to get to the semi-finals and for a few hours before the result between England and New Zealand we all felt a kind of way that we didn't want to feel."
"We were hurt, we let ourselves down a bit but now that we're through, maybe it's a blessing in disguise. We got to experience what that felt like then and we can use that once again to drive us. Like when we got knocked out from the [ODI World Cup] qualifiers in 2025 and we let that pain motivate us in our training over the next few months. We're a very passionate group, we care a lot and when we let ourselves down like that, it certainly doesn't feel good. We want to stop that from happening as much as possible."
Unlike other teams, West Indies often find themselves having to re-emphasise their passion to play for their region because they have been stuck with a moniker of being unpredictable. In T20 cricket, that seems particularly misplaced. A format in which one over or one stirring individual performance can change the course of a match is, by its nature, built for surprise.
Sure, there are teams like Australia and England who have not dropped a match at this edition but Australia are the only side that have been consistent over more than a decade - hence they've won the trophy six times and no-one else has won more than once - and all the rest are scrambling for their piece of the pie. West Indies have already had one but know it will take something special to get another taste. So, to the main question, how can they - or anyone - beat Australia?
"We're going to need big performances from big players," Matthews said. "We're certainly going to need a standout individual performance but to beat a team like Australia, you also need more than one player.
"We're going to have to have our best players really stepping up to the plate - players like Aaliyah Alleyne, Jazarah Claxton, they've been great role players throughout the tournament. 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. We haven't had our best match yet. We haven't had the likes of myself in the runs, really. That leaves a lot of room for improvement for us as a team."
The biggest player for West Indies is Matthews herself and while she sits third on the wicket-takers' list, she is far down the batting charts with 115 runs from five matches and a strike-rate of 97.45. It is the worst return she has had at a World Cup since the 2020 edition, where West Indies only won one game and she knows that has to change if West Indies are to go further. Does the burden of carrying the team weigh on Matthews?
"Somewhat, yes. But I don't think that's anything abnormal," Matthews said. "As a captain and as one of the more renowned players in the team, that pressure is probably a bit deserved and just means I want to do really well and I want to perform really well.
"On a big occasion like this, to take it one step further, would mean a whole lot to us as a group. We've got some older girls within the team. We're really passionate about taking it all the way to this World Cup and we certainly feel like we're not like a lot of the other teams where we're guaranteed a semi-final spot every single World Cup. So we certainly want to make the most of it when we get this opportunity.
"Personally, I want to be able to play a role to help the team. Although I've been going really well with the ball, I still know that the team needs me there with the bat and I want to be able to step up and perform."
So it's over to Australia, who were under-hyped in a tough group that included India and South Africa but stamped their authority over both of them and emerged unbeaten. They are one of those sides who might as well be guaranteed a semi-final spot at major tournaments. That makes the match theirs to lose, and gives West Indies licence to go as hard as they can and see where it gets them.
"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 feel like you can just go there and be free," Matthews said. "I 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 do it will probably be a massive disappointment for them. Even though we have a lot of care and a lot of passion and we want to win, we're certainly not expected to by the masses and that eases I think a bit of the pressure off of our shoulders."
The first semi-final is a day game and will be played at the Oval on Tuesday.