West Indies earn praise for performance in SL

Ann Brown-John, vice-president of the Trinidad & Tobago Women's Cricket Board of Control, has praised the West Indies team for their performance on the tour of Sri Lanka. Despite losing the ODI series 3-2, she said there was much hope to be taken from the experience.

"I think they had a great performance. Unfortunately they didn't win the series, but it was in preparation for the upcoming World Cup in Australia and they must have gained some experience from it that they can now use."

West Indies won the opening match but lost the second and third matches, played in Dambulla. A spirited fight in the fourth match in Colombo helped them draw level, but Sri Lanka eventually clinched the series with a win in the final game at the same venue.

Brown-John said she was particularly impressed with the performances of the Trinidadian players in the West Indies squad. "In most of the games, they had good performances, either with the bat or the ball, which would have contributed to the overall success of the team. I saw that Marissa [Aguillera] top-scored in one of the games and Stacy [Ann-King] won the Player-of-the-Match award on two occasions, so I think that they (the local players), had quite a credible performance."

Stefanie Taylor was the most successful West Indian batsman on the tour, scoring 222 runs at 37.00, and was also among the pick of the bowlers, along with Anisa Mohammed and Afy Fletcher with seven wickets each.

The team returned home at the weekend and will continue their preparations for their next assignment - the 2009 Women's World Cup in Australia to be played from March 7-22.