Windies women not worried by tough group

MUMBAI, India, CMC- Captain Merrisa Aguilleira has conceded that West Indies women will be campaigning in a tough group but says her charges are not worried as they prepare to do battle in the ICC women’s World Cup in India.

Aguilleira’s women, who lost their warm-up fixture against Australia  yesterday by 135 runs, are in a group featuring defending champions England, host India and Sri Lanka.

The Windies women have been improving since the last ICC Women’s World Cup in 2009, where they finished fifth.

“England are the champs so we know they will come to win again,” said Aguilleira.

“We had a few matches against them (back in 2010 at home) and we beat them, but it will be different conditions in India. They will present a stern test for any team in the tournament”.

The West Indies qualified for the 2013 event after winning the ICC Women’s World Cup Qualifier in Dhaka, Bangladesh in 2011.

The Caribbean side has yet to win an ICC Global event, but has been reaching semi-final stages of competitions.

“The Sri Lankans have been progressing and we always keep a close eye on them. We can’t under-rate them,” said Aguilleira.

“India have the home advantage and that will count for something in this tournament. They have good all-round strength and will be a force to be reckoned with”.

The Windies enter the tournament full of confidence after rebounding from 0-2 to tie the ODI Series 2-2 against South Africa, with one match being rained off.

They then easily won both matches to take the two-match T20 rubber earlier this month as well.

“It is all about adjusting from the T20 format where we played in Sri Lanka to the 50-over format where we will be playing in India,” said the 27-year-old who currently has 52 ODI and has scored 818 runs and 55 dismissals.