Dhaka, Bangladesh — West Indies made it four wins out of four on Sunday to seal a spot in the International Cricket Council’s Women’s World Cup 2013. Speaking after the victory, over Bangladesh in the final qualifying match, captain Merissa Aguilleira said the players were thrilled with their achievement, which will now see them play in the marquee event in India.
They easily took care of business against the home side at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium. Windies made 217-8 off 50 overs and then dismissed the hosts for 137. Aguilleira said the job is now to win the tournament.
"We feel great to qualify for the World Cup. We here to achieve that goal and it feels really good to make it. The mission is not accomplished, however. We performed well as a team today, we stuck to the basics and I’m happy with the direction this side is moving in," she said.
"We came to this event to play six matches, to qualify for the ICC Women’s World Cup and to play in six matches to make it to the final. We’ve accomplished the qualification part of our target, which feels fantastic and now it’s about the next two games and winning the event."
On the field, opener Stafanie Taylor (62) and left-hander Shanel Daley (61) put on 84 runs for the second wicket which helped the West Indies on their way to making a challenging score. Some poor bowling saw Stacy-Ann King (24) thumping three big sixes as the Windies scored at briskly in the last 10 overs.
In front of a large and vocal home crowd, the Bangladesh side chased down the target, but ultimately fell short with the West Indies showing once again how strong a side they are in the field. The Windies team allowed no ball to go un-chased and restricted the young Bangladesh batters who struggled against the athletic fielding and superior West Indies bowling.
Daley was brilliant with her left-arm spin taking 2-17 off her 10 overs to earn the Player-of-the-Match award. The best bowler was 15-year-old leg-spinner Shaquana Qunityne, who took 3-20 off 6.4 overs, her best bowling figures since joining the team in September.
Aguilleira was full of praise for Daley’s performance with both bat and ball; and also highlighted the efforts of Quintyne.
"Shanel showed her consistency today, she went out to bat and knew she had to stay there and steady the innings and she did just that and then took two wickets in the Bangladesh innings, so she had a great game for us," the skipper said. "Shaquana is one of the new girls in the team and she has fitted in really well. She is a good bowler and did a good job today."
West Indies will next play on Thursday when they face either Sri Lanka or Bangladesh dependent on the outcome of the Asia sides’ cross-over game on Tuesday.