ST JOHN’S – Even with Deandra Dottin suspended, four Barbadians have been named in the West Indies’ 15-member women’s squad for the upcoming eight-match series in New Zealand.
The Knight twin sisters, Kycia and Kyshona, seam bowler Shakera Selman and teenage leg-spinner Shaquana Quintyne were yesterday named by the West Indies selectors in the team which will again be led by inspirational captain Merissa Aguilleira, who has been at the helm since 2008.
Jamaican Vanessa Watts, a 26-year-old right-arm slow bowler and useful lower-order batter, is the lone newcomer in the squad.
“We want to welcome Vanessa to the squad for the upcoming series and we know she will fit in very well,” said coach Sherwin Campbell.
“She is one of the players who has been knocking at the door for a while now and she has earned her opportunity. She is a hard-working cricketer and has a very good work ethic.
“We have a core of really good players and a very cohesive unit going to New Zealand and I know she will fit into the group and make her contribution when she gets the opportunity,” he added.
The squad includes most of the players who featured in the West Indies Women’s victory in the Tri-Series Tri-Nation tournament last October – including Stafanie Taylor, the two-time ICC Women’s Cricketer of the Year; and Anisa Mohammed – one of the top wicket-takers in women’s cricket history.
The team, who were the World Cup runners-up, will arrive in New Zealand on February 10 and will have a one-week camp as they prepare to face the White Ferns in three One-Day Internationals and five Twenty20 Internationals.
The ODIs will be played at the Bert Sutcliffe Oval in Lincoln. The first three T20s will be at Queens Park, Invercargill, with the last two T20s at the Bay Oval, Mount Maunganui.
Squad
Merissa Aguilleira (captain), Shemaine Campbelle, Shanel Daley, Chinelle Henry, Stacy-ann King, Kycia Knight,
Kyshona Knight, Natasha Mclean, Anisa Mohammed, Subrina Munroe, Shaquana Quintyne, Shakera Selman, Tremayne Smartt, Stafanie Taylor, Vanessa Watts.
