Girls Aloud
Exciting to be among the elite
It is an honour to be named in the top 20 of the batting rankings, while I am delighted that the progress of Alicia Smith and Ashlyn Kilowan has also been recognised in the bowling rankings
Cri-Zelda Brits
25-Feb-2013
Today is a very exciting day in the history of women’s cricket with the launch of the first-ever ODI player ratings for women. Here's the full list.
I think this is an important step for the game, as I really believe it will make a difference to the profile of the women’s game.
When you see what has happened to the women’s game in the last five years, I think it is very encouraging that we are beginning to get treated in the same way as the men’s players.
Full postDisappointing not to tour Pakistan
Only a few players have indicated fear and express concern touring Pakistan
Nadine Geroge
25-Feb-2013
Presently, the tour to Pakistan is on hold. This tour plays an integral part in our overseas and international exposure for groundwork to partake in World Cup 2009 in Australia. There is a sense of uneasiness with reference to security for players and management and we should take this into consideration. It is a sad state for cricket on the whole and to our preparation for World Cup 2009. Personally, I do not have any fear of touring Pakistan, but I am a bit apprehensive about the safety of the West Indies team.
Only a few players have indicated fear and express concern touring Pakistan. As for me, my statement of not having the fear to travel to Pakistan has cause heated debate in St Lucia. A comment of me being "crazy" to travel was made. The Caribbean people are generally expressing mixed feelings about the tour to Pakistan in light of the bombing of the Marriott hotel.
The team needs the international exposure and the experience of playing teams we expect to meet in the upcoming World Cup. There we can measure the team’s level of preparedness and work on our strengths and weaknesses. We are now in a position of playing "catch up" to the other nations who have already qualified for World Cup 2009. The team understands the situation and looks forward to playing Sri Lanka. The West Indies board and the team are monitoring the situation and a final decision will be made soon.
Full postMore experience wanted for Australia
In analysing our defeat, I’d say we didn’t give enough importance to partnerships
Mithali Raj
25-Feb-2013
The ODI series in England was disappointing to say the least and to make matters worse I am likely to sit out the Challenger Series, starting October 2 in Ahmedabad, because of some niggling injuries.
But though we lost 4-0 to England I can honestly say we have taken quite a lot from the experience of playing there. That holds true especially for the younger players in the squad for whom the tour was a first-ever outside the subcontinent. I’d say we were enjoying a lot of a confidence after our Asia Cup win but England are a level higher than any of the sides we played in Sri Lanka. The one thing I observed in the England players was their confidence – simply brimming – which I believe is because of their Ashes win in Australia. Unlike us, England have been consistently playing against good sides and that shows in their performance. They are one of the best fielding sides today.
In analysing our defeat, I’d say we didn’t give enough importance to partnerships. In fact we hardly had any to build an innings with. Unless at least two decent partnerships can be mustered, it is very difficult to cross 180 to 200. However at a time when the team is losing badly the important thing is to remain positive. Our coach would focus on the good aspects of the match because there is no point in getting the young players down ahead of the next one.
Full postLet the games begin
After a short camp in June, the Australia squad came together for one last time recently before the India tour and the start of our summer
Shelley Nitschke
25-Feb-2013
After a short camp in June, the Australia squad came together for one last time recently before the India tour and the start of our summer. Fitness testing (always a favourite), team-building and plenty of cricket were just a few things in the agenda for the camp.
One of the talking points from the four-day camp was the team-building exercise we all took part in on the Sunday. Let's just say we have all had the experience of being shot at from short range; shooting someone from short range, and storming a house as if we were undertaking a raid. Needless to say we are not quite ready for the real deal just yet!
This was the last full squad camp before the Indian team arrives in late October. After a solid pre-season, all the girls are looking forward to plenty of cricket and a busy summer ahead.
Full postFrom no cricket to World Cup
The hard work of the 2005 team awarded them the fifth overall place and gave them a qualifying place for WC 2009
Nadine Geroge
25-Feb-2013
The first West Indies women’s team tour in over three years was very rigorous and compact. We started the tour of Ireland, Netherlands and England with a training camp in Barbados where the players were made aware of the hard work ahead that will be required to be a member of the team.
Being the captain of a very young and inexperienced team had its challenges. Despite knowing and seeing the ladies perform at the regional level, I was not sure how they would have handled or coped with the international arena. With two whitewash series wins against Ireland and Netherland respectively I could not have asked for more. We had a disappointing loss against England where the inexperience of the team showed greatly.
The ladies proved they had the capability to adapt and take on the challenges and gain international experience. With such a young and inexperienced team I could not ask for anything more than the best of all members. The team showed depth in their game and made my job as captain that much easier. Bowlers and batsmen understood what their individual task was on the team. The team performed admirably throughout the tour. During the European tour our management team was able to assess the team and record areas of weaknesses to rectify before World Cup 2009.
Full postWorld Cup day dreams
Six months to go and we’re now really counting down to the start of the World Cup
Cri-Zelda Brits
25-Feb-2013
Six months to go and we’re now really counting down to the start of the World Cup.
We are now back home after a tough tour in Europe and although we didn’t manage to beat England, I believe we made significant progress during the tour, which provided invaluable experience for us and the tough challenges that lie ahead.
Our bowling and fielding performances, particularly in the Twenty20 matches, showed we are getting closer to competing with the top sides, although admittedly there is much work still to do on our batting.
All credit to the England’s bowlers, who bowled really well, but we are going to have work very hard in provincial cricket in the coming months to raise our performance levels with the bat.
Full postWho will be No. 1?
I am sure there will plenty of competition amongst players from different teams to improve their own ranking and I am sure it will occasionally get mentioned in the dressing room as well, but I think a bit of good-natured rivalry will be beneficial
Urooj Mumtaz
25-Feb-2013
There have been many exciting developments for our sport in recent years, but I have to admit it is great news that there will soon be an ODI Player Rankings system for women’s cricket.
The rankings will spark additional interest in the women’s game, especially when there will be some high profile events in 2009 such as the Women’s World Cup.
I am sure there will plenty of competition amongst players from different teams to improve their own ranking and I am sure it will occasionally get mentioned in the dressing room as well, but I think a bit of good-natured rivalry will be beneficial for the sport.
Full postThree hits, three misses
It was nice to finish the Twenty20 series [against South Africa] with a clean sweep
Ebony Rainford-Brent
25-Feb-2013
It was nice to finish the Twenty20 series [against South Africa] with a clean sweep. The goal was to continue the momentum we have had from the one-day games, and Twenty20 being the shorter format meant we had to be ultra disciplined to achieve that. I think for us as a squad it was important preparation for the World Twenty20 next year, as we haven’t played an excessive amount therefore everything we can fit in now will be important and we, like everyone else, will have to learn fast.
For me personally the Twenty20s ended up as a bit of a disaster. I have never had three ducks in a row in my life! Well I’ll describe it for you. First game two balls left, the aim was to swing from my boots which I did … unfortunately missing the ball. The second duck, well a bit of a mix-up with the captain with a few ‘yes’ and ‘no’ calls, and next I was walking back to the pavilion with dust in my mouth from my extravagant dive! The final duck, when I got the opportunity to open, was bad shot-selection, trying to pull a ball that most probably wasn’t quite there and I ended up lbw. Personally I am gutted as I had a good opportunity to score some runs but missed out.
Full postTaylor and Atkins have set the bar high
Ebony Rainford-Brent
25-Feb-2013
We approached the South Africa series, which we won 4-0, how we needed to. The aim was to go out there and play cricket the way we can, which was highlighted in the game at Lord's.
There are still a lot of areas to improve, which we will sit down and work out for ourselves. We've got areas we definitely need to improve individually. We just need to build more partnerships with the batting; with bowling we need to keep hitting the right areas. But every bowler's had a chance to bowl and every batter's had a chance to bat, so we are all in form.
Full postWe will go hard in remaining games
We were extremely excited to come to Ireland and England, not really knowing what to expect
Cri-Zelda Brits
25-Feb-2013
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We weren't really surprised though - England have always been a good side. I've seen some videos of when they played in 2000 and I've watched them mature as a team - nowadays they can beat Australia. When we saw the results against Australia and New Zealand earlier this year we knew they would be hard work.
That was what made this tour so awesome because we needed to see what we need to do to close the gap on the top four teams in the world. Although we lost the series 4-0 what makes us different to 2003 was that we never seemed to grow then. In this series we've improved, in team spirit – even though we were losing, we still stuck there. I think the girls have showed a lot of character, getting well beaten in the first games then coming back in the last two.
In the first two games England took us on with the batting and our bowlers definitely had to improve on being more consistent and working on their skill level and they have. In terms of the fielding, we had to adapt our field placings to their style of play. We have worked hard.
Full post