Sports
Jonathan Ramnanansingh
WEST INDIES women’s team captain Stafanie Taylor believes the three-match One-Day International series against hosts Pakistan, which bowls off at the National Stadium in Karachi on Monday, serves as good preparation ahead of the November 21-December 5 ICC Women’s World Cup qualifiers.
Taylor and wicketkeeper Shemaine Campbelle will return to the maroon outfit after missing out South Africa’s tour of the West Indies in September.
“I am looking forward to getting back out there. It was really hard to see the game, the girls playing, getting beaten and I was not able to do anything. It’s really nice to get back into the team. I’m hoping that we come over here and do great things,” said Taylor during Sunday’s pre-match zoom media conference.
Pakistan also toured the Caribbean in July with the hosts sweeping the T20 series 3-0 and then winning the ODI series 3-2.
Against South Africa however, the three-match T20 series was drawn 1-1 while the Proteas triumphed 4-1 in the ODI series.
Taylor missed the South Africa series after taking a personal leave of absence. Additionally, Campbelle missed both home series against Pakistan and South Africa owing to injury but is now fully recovered and ready to go.
Looking ahead, Taylor thinks the forthcoming series against Pakistan augurs well for both teams as they climax preparations ahead of the World Cup qualifiers.
“We’re using these games to get the preparation going for the qualifiers but (we’re) not looking too far ahead. We definitely want to take away the winnings of course.
“So it’s not just practice but also for us personally to get some runs and wickets under our belt. I think looking at not just the qualifiers, but also for World Cup, you never know, we may play Pakistan again so it’s good preparation going forward,” she added.
The West Indies women open their ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup qualifying campaign on November 21 against Papua New Guinea at the Sunrise Cricket Club in Harare, Zimbabwe in the first of their four group A fixtures.
When asked if the team may seek to make amends on the men’s team’s early exit from the T20 World Cup, Taylor said the men’s results had and will have no impact on the team’s performance against Pakistan.
“We don’t even think about that (men’s exit from T20 World Cup). We never had a conversation about that. We try to focus on what we need to do as a team. We know the areas that we need to work on.
“I think it’s important to try to focus on us. We know how important the qualifiers are so we just have to go out there and put out best foot forward. We have to try and get it right. Pakistan is a good competitor.
“We’ve seen that in the last time we played them. They pretty much won the last two games so they’re coming off a high. So we have to make sure that we keep knocking on the door and get back to winning ways,” she added.
The first ODI takes place on Monday followed by the second and third on Thursday and Sunday respectively.
Both teams then travel to Zimbabwe to join eight other nations in the qualifying tournament. West Indies are grouped alongside Sri Lanka, Ireland, Netherlands and Papua New Guinea while Pakistan go up against Bangladesh, Zimbabwe, Thailand and USA in group two.
Only the top three teams from the qualifiers advance to the World Cup which will be staged in New Zealand in March and April next year. Already qualified are the hosts, India, Australia, England and South Africa.
Good performances with the bat, Taylor said, remain the team’s primary focus.
The veteran all-rounder mentioned, “We had to accept that where we’re at. We did that. How do we move from there? We had some good conversations around getting good partnerships. If somebody is in, they have to stay in so that at the back end, we propel to whatever total the pitch gives us.
“To compete with the top teams, we’re aiming for 250 (runs) plus and that’s just our start. It’s about the batters putting their heads down, going out there and making some runs. Having good partnerships are important.
“We spoke about constructing an innings. We’re not there as yet. We should have been at that stage but we’re not there at yet but we’re working hard to get to that stage. I have no doubt we can. I think we’re doing a tremendous job getting to that standard,” she added.
SQUADS –
PAKISTAN (for 1st ODI): Aliya Riaz, Sidra Nawaz (captain and wicketkeeper), Anam Amin, Ayesha Zafar, Fatima Sana, Iram Javed, Kainat Imtiaz, Muneeba Ali, Nashra Sandhu, Omaima Sohail, Sadia Iqbal, Sidra Amin.
WEST INDIES: Stafanie Taylor (captain), Anisa Mohammed (vice-captain), Aaliyah Alleyne, Shemaine Campbelle, Shamilia Connell, Deandra Dottin, Sheneta Grimmond, Chinelle Henry, Qiana Joseph, Kycia Knight, Kyshona Knight, Hayley Matthews, Chedean Nation, Shakera Selman, Rashada Williams; Reserves – Cherry Ann Fraser, Shabika Gajnabi, Karishma Ramharack.
