Basseterre, St Kitts – Head Coach of the West Indies Women’s Team Sherwin Campbell has described allrounder Stafanie Taylor as “an amazing player” following another match-winning batting performance on Friday.
Head Coach of the West Indies Women’s Team Sherwin Campbell. Photos: windiescricket.com
The 20-year-old Taylor made a well-compiled 75 to win the Player-of-the-Match award, as Windies Women beat India Women by 42 runs to level the three-match One-Day International series at Warner Park.
Taylor is presently at Number 1 among allrounders in the International Cricket Council’s One-Day Internationals rankings for women. She is also at Number 2 in Batting and in the Top 10 in Bowling. She has now made 1,807 runs and taken 55 wickets in 46 One-Dayers to make her the most successful woman in West Indies history.
“Stafanie has been superb for us in both the T20 and 50-over formats and she is performing really well in all departments — with the bat, with the ball and in the field. She is a leader in the team as well and plays with great confidence. Her confidence rubs off on the other players,” said Campbell.
“She is an amazing player. She is still very young at age 20 and will form a vital part of West Indies cricket in the future. She is a knowledgeable and committed cricketer and she has it in her to be one of the most successful women cricketers of all time.”
On Friday, West Indies batted first and made 204-6. Taylor added 60 runs for the fifth wicket with captain and keeper Merissa Aguillera, who made 33 off 37 balls and returned later in the day to take three catches and a stumping.
Stafanie Taylor
In the second half of the match the Windies limited India to 162-9 off 50 overs. The best bowlers were teenaged leg-spinner Shemaine Campbelle (2-16), medium pacer Shakera Selman (2-17), and off-spinner Anisa Mohammed (2-29) in her 50th One-Day International.
Last week Taylor won the Player-of-the-Series award as the West Indies won the five-match T20 Series 3-2.
Campbell, the former West Indies opening batsman and vice captain who has led the revival of West Indies Women’s cricket since taking over in 2008, believes his players have it in them to beat India in the series-decider on Sunday. Campbell said his players will approach the match with confidence and look to dominate. First ball at Warner Park is 10 am (9 am Jamaica Time).
“We played some really good cricket in the T20s to win that series and again we proved that we can compete with a team ranked higher than us and also beat them,” Campbell said.
“We lost the first ODI but we bounced back to win convincingly in the second match and set-up a ‘final’ on Sunday. We will approach the match with confidence. We will plan well, prepare well and look to execute. We believe we can win the match and take this series.”
WEST INDIES SQUAD: Merissa Aguillera (Captain/wicket-keeper), Stafanie Taylor (Vice Captain), Shemaine Campbelle (wicket-keeper), Britney Cooper, Shanel Daley, Deandra Dottin, Pearl Etienne, Stacy Ann King, Kycia Knight (wicket-keeper), Anisa Mohammed, Subrina Munroe, Juliana Nero, Shaquana Quintyne, Shakera Selman.