ST JOHN’S, Antigua, CMC – The West Indies selectors on Friday named four newcomers in a women’s squad touring South Africa next month.
The rookies are the all-rounders Britney Cooper, a standout for champions Trinidad and Tobago at the West Indies Cricket Board’s Tournament in Guyana last month, Guyana’s Tremayne Smartt; and teenagers Amanda Samaroo (T&T) and Shemaine Campbelle (Guyana).
They all earned selection to the team after performing well in the regional competition.
The 14-member side will be led by wicket-keeper Merissa Aguilleira and includes West Indies Players Association (WIPA) Player of the Year Stafanie Taylor, a recent long list nominee for the ICC Women’s Cricketer of the Year.
Experienced all-rounder Anisa Mohammed is the new vice-captain, replacing Kirbyina Alexander, who is not in the squad for the series of four One-Day Internation-als and three Twentty20 Internationals.
The games will be played at the historic Newlands Ground in Cape Town and the Boland Bank Park in Paarl.
The squad includes five changes to the side that played in the ICC World Twenty20 Championship in England in June.
Making a return to the team is Jamaican batting all-rounder Chadean Nation, who last represented the Windies during the tour of Europe in the summer of 2008.
Missing from the squad from the WT20 in England are Alexander, the experienced Debbie-Ann Lewis and Juliana Nero, Danielle Small and Charlene Taitt.
The tour will be part of the West Indies team’s preparation for the International Cricket Council’s World T20 Championships to be played in the Caribbean next year.
West Indies are ranked fifth in the world in both ODIs and T20s following their final position at the ICC Women’s World Cup in Australia in March and the ICC World T20 Tournament in England in June.
SQUAD – Merissa Aguilleira (captain), Anisa Mohammed (vice-captain), Shemaine Campbelle, Britney Cooper, Shanel Daley, Deandra Dottin, Cordel Jack, Stacy Ann King, Pamela Lavine, Chadean Nation, Amanda Samaroo, Tremayne Smartt, Shakera Selman, Stafanie Taylor.
