St John’s, Antigua – President of the WICB, Dr Julian Hunte, has sent words of encouragement and well wishes to the two West Indies teams on duty on two continents across the world.
The Windies Women are presently in India participating in the prestigious ICC Women’s World Cup; while the Windies Men are on a tour of duty in Australia, where they will face the home side in five One-Day Internationals and a one-off T20 International.
The ICC World T20 World Champions will play two ODIs at the WACA Ground in Perth; and the other three at the Manuka Oval, Canberra; the Sydney Cricket Ground; and the Melbourne Cricket Ground. The one-off T20 International will be played at the Gabba in Brisbane.
"This is a very busy period with both our main teams miles away from home representing the people of the region and showcasing the West Indies Cricket brand. We will soon see the start of the Regional Super50 and the Regional 4Day tournaments – which will provide opportunities for our young emerging players as we saw in the Caribbean T20. Fans can expect a lot of action and entertainment in the coming weeks," Dr Hunte said.
"The Men’s team will have a full calendar and we believe it will be another successful year. As they embark on what we believe will be a successful trip Down Under, I wish Captain Darren Sammy, Head Coach Ottis Gibson and the entire team all the best as they seek to continue the good run of form they showed last year."
Dr Hunte added: "We have not won against Australia in Australia for a long while, and this tour offers the opportunity to reverse that trend of bad results. Judging from the performances and unity we saw last year, especially during the win at the ICC World T20 in Sri Lanka, we are confident the team will reap great success in Australia as they bid to move up the ICC rankings."
West Indies Women have been drawn in Group A at the eight-team ICC Women’s World Cup – the most prestigious event for female cricketers. They lost their opening match to India on Thursday, and will come up against Sri Lanka and England next week as they seek a spot in the Super Six (second round). The final will be played under lights on February 17.
"The battle has already started as our girls seek to win the ICC Women’s World Cup trophy for the first time. We want to wish Captain Merissa Aguilleira, Head Coach Sherwin Campbell and the entire side best wishes on their trip to the subcontinent. They lost the opening match against the home team, but we are confident they will rebound and make a huge impact in the tournament," he said.
"Women’s cricket is evolving at a rapid rate and there is great focus on the ICC Women’s World Cup. The West Indies Women have also moved forward quickly and we know our team will have a major say this tournament. We have some whole-hearted performers in the team and we again believe the spirit the team has demonstrated before, when faced with challenges, will come to the fore."
Dr Hunte added: "West Indies Women have never won the World Cup before, but we believe this team has all the right personnel and strength of character to rebound from defeat and beat the best in the world."
MATCH SCHEDULES
West Indies in Australia
February
Friday 1: 1st One-Day International – WACA, Perth
Sunday 3: 2nd One-Day International – WACA, Perth
Wednesday 6: 3rd One-Day International – Manuka Oval, Canberra
Friday 8: 4th One-Day International – SCG, Sydney
Sunday 10: 5th One-Day International – MCG, Melbourne
Wednesday 13: T20 International – The Gabba, Brisbane
West Indies at ICC Women’s World Cup
January 31: West Indies lost to India at CCI
February 3: vs Sri Lanka at MIG Ground
February 5: vs England at Bandra Kurla Complex
Super Six matches: to be played on February 8, 10, 11, 13, 15
FINAL: February 17 at Cricket Club of India (day/night)