St John’s, Antigua: The Cricket West Indies (CWI) women’s selection panel has announced the 15-member squad for the tour to Australia in October.
The six-match Series comprises three T20Is and three ODIs.
Following the West Indies Women’s clean sweep against Ireland Women in the CG United ODI Series and the T20I Series in Saint Lucia earlier in the summer, the panel has named an unchanged squad for the Australia tour under the leadership of Captain Hayley Matthews. The tour will be the first for new Head Coach Shane Deitz who arrived in the West Indies at the end of August, the CWI said in a statement.
The inclusion of the ‘Rising Stars’ quartet of Ashmini Munisar, Djenaba Joseph, Zaida James, and Jannillea Glasgow will see some of our youngest talent in the team having their first opportunity to test their skills against the current T20I and 50-Over World Champions Australia.
Lead Selector for Women’s cricket Ann Browne-John said, “The selection panel has chosen to maintain most of the players who were victorious in the home series against Ireland. Jannillea Glasgow, after having an outstanding Rising Stars Women’s Under 19 tournament, has been included in the 15-member squad and we see the return of Karishma Ramharack.”
Browne-John added, “This team is one we believe will continue to build and develop as our game evolves in the rapidly growing landscape and high-performance setting of women’s cricket. We have continued to place confidence in some of the developing players. Several of the players are coming off title-winning performances in the Massy Caribbean Premier League so we are expecting them to continue their good run of form. This is a team we believe can produce competitive cricket against a top team like Australia, under the guidance of the new Head Coach and led by the captain Hayley Matthews who’s enjoying a very productive 2023 thus far.”
The ODI series against Australia is West Indies’ fourth fixture in the ICC Women’s Championship 2022-2025 after playing New Zealand, England and Ireland. Each match provides West Indies with opportunity to win valuable points to climb the Championship table where they currently lie 9th out of ten teams (see table here) . Following the Australia Series, West Indies Women will have four further three-match ODI series to play over the next two years. At the end of the cycle, the top five teams in the ICC Women’s Championship and will book a berth for the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup in 2025 as well as hosts India. The remaining teams will have to go through the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup Qualifier.
Full Squad: Hayley Matthews (captain), Shemaine Campbelle (vice-captain), Aaliyah Alleyne, Shamilia Connell, Afy Fletcher, Cherry Ann Fraser, Shabika Gajnabi, Jannillea Glasgow, Chinelle Henry, Zaida James, Djenaba Joseph, Ashmini Munisar, Karishma Ramharack, Stafanie Taylor, Rashada Williams
Schedule:
October 1: 1st T20I at North Sydney Oval, Sydney
October 2: 2nd T20I at North Sydney Oval, Sydney (night)
October 5: 3rd T20I at Allan Border Field, Brisbane (night)
October 8: 1st ODI at Allan Border Field, Brisbane
October 12: 2nd ODI at Junction Oval, Melbourne
October 14: 3rd ODI at Junction Oval, Melbourne
(IANS)
