By Marlon Munroe
National women’s cricket captain Shemaine Campbelle is soft spoken but very competitive and as rounded and gifted as most in the sport and she sets a high standard for her other teammates to follow.
And yesterday she disclosed to Stabroek Sport that her team will be going into the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) regional women’s 50-over tournament thinking that it is a number one ranked team.
Campbelle, 17, who played for the West Indies during this year’s ICC Twenty20 World Cup in the Caribbean, said her team will shrug off the effects of last year’s first round defeat in the tournament that was held in Guyana.
During a time out from the national squad’s workout session at the Chetram Singh Centre of Excellence, La Bonne Intention (LBI), the Berbician said that she is up to leading the team past the preliminary round. The energetic cricketer also pointed that her stint in the West Indies team will also help her with her duties at the helm, especially since her aim will be to get the fundamentals right to overcome challenges from other teams.
“I keep having dreams that we are up there, we are number one and hopefully when we go over there we will return victorious from all our games. We put aside that (last year’s first round defeat) coming into a fresh regional tournament so we will go there and forget about last year’s tournament that was held in Guyana. We will do excellent in the tournament; I know that because we have been training well,” the right arm fast medium pacer maintained.
Campbelle’s own form going into the tournament is good and her main focus at the moment is Trinidad & Tobago, who are the defending champions. Guyana will challenge the defending champions in their opening game in St. Vincent on August 12.
According to her a lot of focus is being placed on T&T since for some time the Guyanese have tried and fallen short. “We are in a good position to overcome them this year and I have confidence in myself and team that we are going to beat them this year,” she declared.
Her team’s strength she said is balance. However, she mentioned that the players are in the process of shoring up the fielding department. When Stabroek Sport visited the LBI facility yesterday the ladies had just concluded their fielding drills and the bowlers were participating in spot bowling.
West Indies player bowler Tremayne Smartt will be spearheading the bowling for the Guyanese.
On the other hand, Campbelle said that the encampment has been working well for the ladies and she will be looking to put into effect the knowledge she has acquired of the players in the WI team against them. She said she knows what are the capabilities and shortcomings of some of the key players in the teams Guyana will be going up against and she will be looking to come up with strategies to limit them as much as possible.
She said that the ladies have been receptive to her style and strategies so far and that will be the impetus for Guyana to do well in the tournament.
