BRIDGETOWN, Barbados — A confident West Indies team will take on England and New Zealand in a Women’s T20 International Series from Monday to Saturday October 26.
All of the matches will be played under lights and live television coverage will be made available throughout the Caribbean.
West Indies Women’s captain Merissa Aguillera is very happy with the decision to air the matches live throughout the region, noting that it will only help to further develop women’s cricket.
She made the point that fans have heard about the success of the women’s team, but unfortunately have never seen them in action.
“Women’s cricket has been developing rapidly and I think the more matches we get on television the better for us. I think this is a good opportunity for people to see us showcase our talents,” said Aguilleira.
The West Indies are upbeat following their recent ODI series win against New Zealand just last week but the Windies wicket-keeper noted that they are not complacent heading into the tri-nations competition.
“We are pretty much confident going in and hopefully we can carry the momentum. This is going to be an incredible series, playing against the top two teams in the world and we know that we are going to deliver as well,” Aguillera added.
“In order to be the best you have to beat the best and these girls are the best so we know what we have to do to stay focused. There is a lot of room for improvement especially in our consistency and our batting, we have to pick up the slack in certain areas,” said.
Stacy-Ann King, Juliana Nero and Chinelle Henry have been drafted into the team for the series and Aguilera hopes they will be able to showcase their talents.
New Zealand captain Susie Bates noted that, despite losing their last two matches against the West Indies, she was confident with the line-up they have. The New Zealand team that played in the ODI series against the West Indies will contest in the Tri-Nations T20 Series.
“I know some of our girls especially with the bat can really stand up and perform,” said Bates.
England captain Charlotte Edwards noted that every tournament they come into there is pressure on them as a team, but they are looking forward to playing in the West Indies.
“We relish the opportunity of playing out here in the West Indies, none of us have every played in Barbados, it looks like a fantastic ground and we are really looking forward to getting underway next Wednesday against New Zealand,” said Edwards.
England may have just arrived in the Caribbean but they have been playing a lot of cricket in the lead-up to the tournament. Edwards made the point that their season only ended a little over two weeks ago and doesn’t think that not having played in the Caribbean recently will be a hindrance.
“We have a warm-up game tomorrow [Sunday], the girls are ready. I think it may have been a problem if it was maybe December, but this has worked really well coming at the end of our season,” said Edwards.
The first match in the series will feature host West Indies coming up against New Zealand at 7 pm (6 pm Jamaica Time)