From no cricket to World Cup

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.

With personal mixed performances the team on a whole performed beyond expectation. We now focus on the goal of achieving the momentous task of competing at the highest level at the 2009 World Cup. The new caps performed admirably and with more international matches and training I am sure the West Indies women will be a force to be reckoned with in the future. Recap players showed a level of experience and assisted in areas that their services were needed. Kudos for the technical team and their hard work and dedication to ensuring the tour was a success.

Qualifying for the World Cup was the main focus of the team. The team had not played any form of international cricket for over three years. Hopes of many players were shattered when the first tour (Sri Lanka) had fallen through. The team felt their hard work was in vain.

I received calls from team-mates asking about our standing for the World Cup 2009. With the West Indies Cricket Board coming onboard we were able to get the requisite matches to qualify.

Thank God for the new board’s commitment to women’s cricket. I wondered what would have happened if it had not come on board. We were struggling and the likelihood of not participating in the World Cup was imminent.

Having fears of not being able to compete would surely put a damper on dreams of players aspiring to playing at the highest level. The hard work of the 2005 team awarded them the fifth overall place and gave them a qualifying place for WC 2009. The idea that the team would not qualify because we did not play the required matches could not be fathomed.

To win the World Cup is a hard task for the team. We are definitely trying to catch up with the other teams who have qualified for the World Cup.

All those teams are competing on a regular basis and getting the necessary exposure and matches to facilitate their development.

The West Indies team is trying desperately to reach a certain standard. We are preparing for a tour to Asia (Pakistan and Sri Lanka) which would help in our preparation.

I am extremely happy we are getting tremendous assistance from the board and the team is looking forward to competing at the World Cup in Australia.