Strong Windies side to face South Africans, T20 World Cup

ST JOHN’S, Antigua, CMC – Selectors have picked a strong West Indies Women’s side for next month’s tour of South Africa and the Twenty20 World Cup which follows in March.

Batsman Stafanie Taylor will be leading West Indies in her second series as captain against South Africa.
Batsman Stafanie Taylor will be leading West Indies in her second series as captain against South Africa.

The 15-member side will be led by Stafanie Taylor and includes the likes of former captain Merissa Aguilleira, Deandra Dottin, twins Kycia and Kyshona Knight and experienced former vice-captain, Anisa Mohammed.

West Indies Cricket Board selector, Courtney Browne said the squad was an impressive one which had been developing well over the last year.

“The team has worked hard over the last year and the selection panel is very happy with the combination and the hard work that the players and management has put in,” Browne said.

“They have made good progress and this squad has a lot of variety with a number of quality all-rounders that should serve the team well throughout the period they will be travelling.”

West Indies Women are coming off a strong showing against Pakistan last year where they won the four-match one-day series 3-1 and the subsequent Twenty20 series, 3-0.

Coming out of that series, Browne said selectors were happy with the development of several players.

“To highlight a few players – Stafanie Taylor has taken up the captaincy and has maintained her high performance standards and we are very happy to see this,” the former West Indies player said.

“Former captain Merissa Aguilleira made good progress during the past series against Pakistan Women and has added value to the team with her batting, and Hayley Matthews is a young, exciting prospect as an all-rounder, so we are quite satisfied with how the team has progressed over the last year.”

The squad, along with five reserve players, will be involved in a training camp from January 28 to February 8 at the West Indies High Performance Centre at the UWI Cave Hill Campus in Barbados.

West Indies Women play three One-Day Internationals and three T20 Internationals on the tour of South Africa which runs from February 12 to March 10.

The T20 World Cup is set for March 15 to April 3 in India.

SQUAD – Stafanie Taylor (captain), Shakera Selman (vice-captain), Merissa Aguilleira, Shemaine Campbelle, Shamilia Connell, Britney Cooper, Deandra Dottin, Afy Fletcher, Stacy-Ann King, Kycia Knight, Kyshona Knight, Hayley Matthews, Anisa Mohammed, Shaquana Quintyne, Tremayne Smartt.