– Guyanese trio in senior WI team
With all the negative factors that have been enveloping Caribbean and local cricket, one of the recent counters to this scourge has been the senior West Indies Women’s team.
Last Saturday in Potchefstroom, South Africa, they produced two spectacular back-to-back performances to capture the International Cricket Council (ICC) Women’s Twenty20 Challenge title.
The Caribbean ladies had comprehensively beaten the Netherlands by 99 runs in their final group stage match before trouncing Sri Lanka by eight wickets in a low-scoring final at North-West University ground.
That success followed their narrow defeat to South Africa in the final of the One-Day International (ODI) segment of the competition.
Earlier in the year they reached the semi-final of the ICC World T20 championship before losing to New Zealand but their male counterparts were knocked out in the Super Sixes stage.
They arrived at the Grantley Adams Airport in Barbados on Tuesday from Heathrow, London, to a warm reception according to the Guyanese trio in the side, Shemaine Campbelle, Tremayne Smartt and debutante Sabrina Munroe.
Yesterday at the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) office on Regent Road, after their arrival from the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, the three confirmed that the experience was good.
Munroe felt, however, that there could have been more time to acclimatize to the South African conditions. All told, the 25-year-old medium fast bowler from Berbice, who made her ODI debut against the Netherlands on October 6, revealed that the level of competition was of a high standard so it was imperative that the entire team lifted its level of play.
“Being [on] my first tour, I found it very interesting but I found that more time should have been given to acclimatizing because we found it a bit difficult to breathe at times. But all in all the competition was good and the level of cricket was high and we had to step up,” Munroe said.
For Munroe, the tour was also considered a learning experience. Strengthening her weak areas and looking at ways to improve on her strengths will be her major concerns when she returns to the club structure at home. Munroe indicated that she had noticed some flaws in most of the women handling the short rising deliveries and she feels that this can be a perfect weapon to have in her repertoire.
Another eye opener from the tour for Munroe was the urgent need to bowl with variation, especially since she envisions playing in different conditions in the future. She emphasized that after she got the call for international duties she savoured the thought of playing beyond the Challenge Cup.
“I am proud of my performance but there are some areas that I have to strengthen. I will be working on my different balls; the short ball a lot of women have a problem playing and it was a weak area generally highlighted for the women and I will be working on and maintaining my good line,” the tall bowler declared.
With an Indian tour in January Munroe said that she will be looking to make the necessary adjustments to suit those conditions.
The West Indies team will depart for India on January 3, 2011 and the three Berbicians revealed that they are intent on improving their individual cricket skills for the national, regional and the international levels.
According to Smartt and Campbelle, sticking to team strategies was the reason for success and they were pleased to play their part for the side. Campbelle on the other hand felt that the Caribbean side should have defeated the South Africans.
“We played as a team in South Africa and stuck to the theme that the coach had. For me, it was an opportunity for me to step up to the plate and give it my best especially since I got to play more matches than the last time I was there and now I intend to keep up the hard work,” the 25-year-old Smartt noted.
The teenaged Campbelle, who is an all-rounder said that she has been working on all aspects of her game. The national captain bats, bowls and keeps wicket.
Meanwhile, when the cricketers were asked whether they intend to impose themselves on the local cricket scene they said, in unison, “Of course.”
Munroe and Smartt, who scored a half century during their stay in South Africa, picked up two wickets apiece, while Campbelle had relative success with the bat.
Commenting on the Caribbean side’s unity, they all agreed that the unity in the team was a vital ingredient for success. They stated that the talented teenager from Jamaica Stefanie Taylor, who scored two centuries and a half century on tour, was a good role model to emulate.
