BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC – West Indies Women’s head coach Sherwin Campbell says he wants to see a big improvement in the side’s batting, as the team prepares to do battle in the World Cup starting next month in India.
Campbell said West Indies had been let down by their batting department during the recent Twenty20 World Cup and it was an area they desperately needed to develop if they were to be a competitive unit.
“Batting was my concern coming out of Sri Lanka. We desperately want to get this area of our game right. It is our number one priority and we dedicated a lot of time and effort to see players being more consistent as individuals, and this will benefit the overall team,” said Campbell, a former West Indies vice-captain.
“The bowling has been our strength for a while now. During the camps we urged the fast bowlers to be more aggressive upfront with the new ball and to look for those early wickets. We are going into a lot of 50-over cricket in the coming weeks and wickets at the start of the innings are crucial.”
During September’s T20 World Cup, West Indies Women played well in patches to reach the semi-finals before losing to Australia on the backs of a poor batting display when they failed to chase down a paltry 116 runs for victory.
An 18-member training squad has been subsequently involved in a near month-long camp scheduled to end on Friday, and Campbell has used the time to try to rectify the batting issues.
With friendly matches scheduled at the Banks Brewery Cricket Ground, Campbell said he would use these to gauge the improvements made.
“We are hoping to see a lot of runs on the board. It is always good to see the batters getting big runs.
The girls have worked overtime in the nets and in the indoors facilities during the camp and we want to see that the work is paying off,” said the former opener who played 52 Tests and 90 One-Day Internationals.
“Scoring runs is a habit so if they start scoring from now and lead into the South Africa series and on into the World Cup, this should serve us in good stead.
“Along with making runs, they have to spend time in the middle and apply the skills they acquired during the camp. The girls are beginning to understand better what is required and we hope to see even bigger scores this week.”
He continued: “We have seen clear signs of improvement. These two games this week should offer more opportunity for the girls to get time in the middle to express themselves. We want runs on top of runs.”
West Indies will host South Africa in the Caribbean from January 7-20 in a seven-match series before heading to the Women’s World Cup, scheduled to run from January 31 to February 17.
