Windies coach aims for final four in World Cup

Sherwin Campbell, the West Indies women's coach, has said he expects his team to reach the final half of the World Cup next month in Australia even though his players could have benefited with a few more days of preparation.

"We will come together in Barbados for a few days and then we go to Australia four days before the warm-up matches begin," Campbell told the ICC website. "We will have a few warm-up matches which will be a key part of our preparations."

Campbell said though West Indies were inexperienced when compared to the other teams, they had the talent to compete at the top level, as they proved on their tours of Europe and Sri Lanka. "In one-day cricket, the key is what you do on the day and I know we can surprise any team in the world. We have the players to do the job and I have faith in the girls."

West Indies had a ten-day camp from where the final squad was picked. Campbell said though several net sessions were spent working on batting techniques, the players still needed to work on building an innings and on playing spin. "We want the players to be able to build match-winning innings. Our bowling is really good and consistent. We have good new-ball bowlers and we have some very good spinners, who are potentially world-class."

Campbell said like last time West Indies would aim to start the tournament on a winning note. "The last time we played against South Africa in 2005 we beat them, so we will aim to maintain that. We are in a competitive zone, so we need to get off to a winning start.

"This is a young team and I would like the girls to show improvement in the World Cup as well as the T20 World Championship. This team will be together for a while and will do well for the West Indies. The only way for us is up and the better we do the more support we would get."