West Indies Women Confident Ahead Of England Series

West Indies Women Confident Ahead Of England Series

The West Indies Women are in confident mood ahead of taking on England

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The West Indies Women are in confident mood as they prepare for a series of five Twenty20 Internationals against England Women which begins on 8th September.

The first two matches will be played ahead of the England-South Africa men's matches at Chester-le-Street and Old Trafford before Northampton, Hove and Arundel host the remaining matches.

The games are both sides' final opportunities to finalise their preparations ahead of the ICC Women's World Twenty20 and looking ahead, captain Merissa Aguillera said:

"It’s good to be back in West Indies colours and it feels great to be leading the team on this tour in England and onto the Twenty20 World Cup in Sri Lanka. We believe we can win the series in England and we will plan well and look to execute. We know conditions in England will be quite different from those we experience at home, but we are capable of adapting quickly and we will give England a strong challenge," said the 26-year-old wicket-keeper.

Their confidence is not misplaced. While England boast an impressive 59% win ratio in all Twenty20 Internationals, the West Indies' own ratio is the next best with 54. They also beat England on home soil in the last ICC WT20.

"We will have training sessions and warm-ups (matches) before we play against England, so that should be ideal preparation for the bigger matches," Aguillera added.

"We played against India and Sri Lanka at home earlier this year and did really well, so we hope to continue the good year with a win against England, which would be the right tonic as we head to Sri Lanka."

The West Indies' rise to prominence in the last two years has been one of the most interesting developing stories in women's cricket and one of their key players has been Stafanie Taylor, although she will miss the first half of the series to take exams in Jamaica.

Nevertheless, Aguillera is looking forward to having her premier all-rounder back in time for the ICC WT20, which she is looking forward to.

"The World T20 in Sri Lanka is the ‘big’ prize. It is what every team wants and we want it. We know that to win it we will have to be at our best and go out there and take it – no one is going to hand it to you on a platter – so we are mentally and physically up to the challenge. We have some of the best players in the world in our team and we are also have some younger players waiting for their opportunity to break onto the world stage."

West Indies Women in England

5th September: T20 International v Pakistan, Loughborough
8th September: 1st T20I v England, Chester-le-Street
10th September: 2nd T20I, Old Trafford
13th September: 3rd T20I, Northampton
15th September: 4th T20I, Hove
16th September: 5th T20I, Arundel

West Indies Women squad: Merissa Aguillera (captain/wicket-keeper), Stafanie Taylor (vice-captain), Shemaine Campbelle, Britney Cooper, Shanel Daley, Deandra Dottin, Stacy-Ann King, Kycia Knight (wicket-keeper), Anisa Mohammed, Subrina Monroe, Juliana Nero, Shaquana Quintyne, Shakera Selman, Tremayne Smartt

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