We Believe We Will Win - Merissa Aguillera

We Believe We Will Win - Merissa Aguillera

Merissa Aguilleira (right) hits out against New Zealand during the 2009 event. She is confident her side can reach the 2010 final in front of their fans.

©Action Images / Paul Harding

West Indies Women's captain Merissa Aguilleira is in a confident mood ahead of her side's ICC Women's World Twenty20 semi-final with New Zealand Women, which is played tomorrow (14th May) in Saint Lucia.

Both matches will follow a men's semi-final and will be played under lights, also being broadcast live around the world and although the West Indies have created a new personal best by reaching the semi-finals, having finished fifth at the inaugural event in England last year, Aguillera is looking for further progress.

“We are ready. We have been preparing very well for this moment and we believe we will win and move on to Sunday’s final in Barbados," she said.

"We have been training together, we play together as a team. We are very strong as a team. To win, we know it will be a tough game, but we have the belief in our ability as individuals, and we have belief in each other. We need to improve on picking up singles when we bat. We have not been picking up as many singles as we should and in T20 cricket matches are usually decided by small margins.

“We need to be attacking as well because the New Zealand girls are aggressive players. They are hard hitters and they will come at us hard so we will be prepared to stick to what we know and play what we know.”

The West Indies earned their spot in the semi-finals by beating reigning champions England and South Africa but finished as runners-up in their group to Australia, who won the game between the two sides by nine runs and are the favourites to reach the final when they take on India on 13th May.

“A lot of thought has gone into what we are doing. We arrived in St Kitts three weeks before the tournament started and we have planned every day of this journey. We put all the plans in place and we went out and performed in the first round. It is now up to us to continue on this journey and look to take it all the way,” Aguilleira added.

“Now that the men’s team has gone out of the tournament we know we have to come out and represent the people of the West Indies in a big way. It’s a great challenge and a great opportunity.”

© Cricket World 2010

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