Local and regional cricket analysts have written optimistically about the chances of the West Indies men team retaining the ICC T20 Cricket World Cup currently being played in Bangladesh. At the same time, they have not written about the West Indies women's chances of winning the championship.
Maybe I will be proven wrong by the time this article is published as someone would have realised that there is a West Indies women's team in the World Cup and would have given an expert analysis of their chances. Like the West Indies men team, the women's team is representing the region and is a contender for the title.
There are several possible reasons that can be adduced as to why the West Indies women's team has not as yet received the attention of the region's premier cricket commentators and pundits. Firstly, the reality is the Darren Sammy team is the defending men's champion while the Merissa Aguilleira team were a beaten semi-finalists by the eventual world champions, Australia in 2012 in Sri Lanka.
Secondly, cricket has been one of the defining characteristics of Caribbean masculinity. Even CLR James in his classic Beyond a Boundary omitted women or maybe he thought women playing cricket is just about recreation and a skit or parody of the 'real deal', played by men.
It seems as though the West Indies women have to win a World Cup before the women's game may be taken seriously by all cricket stakeholders in the region. Maybe then our culture of wholesale mimicking may serve us well in adopting similar approaches as the England Cricket Board (ECB) and Cricket Australia (CA) have implemented to promote the women's game beyond gender tokenism.
The West Indies women head into the World Cup on the heels of their worst T20 series having been defeated 4-0 in 5 matches by New Zealand in New Zealand. However, their overall record is encouraging having won a total of 40 out of 66 matches.
Their record in the sub-continent is 7 wins and 5 losses. In T20 World Cup competitions they have won five matches and lost six, they were semi-finalists in 2010 in the Caribbean and 2012 in Sri Lanka.
The West Indies are in group B with England, India, Sri Lanka and host Bangladesh. Based on past performances, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh should not pose much of a challenge as England and India. With two teams from the group qualifying for the semi-final, England and India must not stand in their way.
Coach Sherwin Campbell put the defeat in New Zealand down to the cold weather as well as the absence of key players Stephanie Taylor for most part due to injury and Deandra Dottin for disciplinary reasons. The tour to New Zealand showed the growing dependence on Taylor and Dottin to shoulder the bulk of the team's batting. Such a reliance is dangerous, as these players are not always going to have good days.
Stephanie Taylor in 49 matches justifies her position as one of the best all round players in the world with 1,321 runs, a highest score of 90 and 53 wickets. Dottin in 61 matches has scored 1,120 runs with a highest of 112 not out.
However, other senior players with over 50 matches such as skipper Merissa Aguilleira, Shanel Daley, Stacy Ann King, Shemaine Campbell and Anisa Mohammed have to put their hands up and be counted.
Aguilleira has done a wonderful job in energizing the West Indies team since taking over the captaincy in 2009 and is already the most winningest West Indies captain in both ODI and T20. However, this may be her last chance of winning a T20 World Cup as the next is in 2018. She has to lead from in front with the bat as she leads with the gloves from behind the stumps.
Stacy Ann King has to transfer her prolific domestic performances into match winning acts at the international level. In the bowling department Anisa Mohammed 73 wickets, has to quickly overcome her ineffective tour of New Zealand where she struggled to get wickets and be economical.
Mohammed along with Taylor, Quintyne 21 wickets, Campbell 34 wickets and Daley 63 wickets are going to carry the bulk of the spin bowling. The other players although not as experienced as the senior players also have to make their contributions count.
Unlike in New Zealand, the slow nature of the pitches in Bangladesh should be encouraging. Thus when the team take the field for their opening game against England today, nothing short of a total team effort would be required.
Once they play to their true potential throughout the competition there is no reason why on April 6, they cannot be celebrating as World Champions like their male counterparts.
Best wishes to both West Indian captains and their respective teams. Represent!
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