Bridgetown, Barbados – The West Indies Cricket Board’s Selection Panel today named a strong team to face India in an eight-match series next month. The Windies will host the Indians in three One-Day Internationals and five T20 Internationals between February 18 and March 4.
Skipper Merissa Aguillera.
Before the start of the series the Windies will have a one-week camp at the Sir Vivian Richards Cricket Ground in Antigua. The full match schedule will be released in the coming days.
The Selection Panel has kept faith with the team which won the International Cricket Council’s World Cup 2013 qualification tournament in Bangladesh last November. Merissa Aguillera remains as captain and the vice captain is Stafanie Taylor, the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) Women Cricketer of the Year for 2011 and the Number 1 allrounder on the ICC Women’s Rankings for One-Day Internationals.
Aguilleria said the team will use the upcoming tour as preparation for the ICC T20 World Championship to be played in Sri Lanka in September as well as the quadrennial ICC Women’s World Cup to be played in India early next year.
“There are a lot of big things happening for us as a team in 2012. This is a year of great expectations for us and we will be looking to start well at home against India. We ended last year on a high when we played unbeaten and swept all before us in Bangladesh so obviously we will be looking to start our 2012 campaign with a victory as well,” Aguilleria outlined.
She added: “The last time we toured India it was a very competitive series and we expect the same this time around. We will have a camp before the series as we look to get ready for the matches. This series will form part of our preparations for the ICC World T20 Championship and that is a tournament we believe we can win.”
FULL 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.