ARNOS VALE – Trinidad and Tobago Divas’ Captain Merissa Aguilleira is confident her team can overcome the impressive Barbados Women in the Regional Women’s Super50 Competition, due to come to a thrilling end at the Arnos Vale Sports Complex tomorrow.
After what Aguilleira considers a ‘mishap’ in their first game, where they lost to the Barbadians, she believes the team has exhibited the necessary skills and temperament to retain their title, won last year in Guyana.
It has definitely shown in the results, as their record thereafter remains unblemished, with their latest victory coming at the expense of the Windwards on Friday.
She thinks due to the wealth of experience in both squads, there will be a fantastic final encounter. However, Aguilleira insists if her team stick to their tasks and are efficient in all aspects of their game, they will come out on top.
Batting for long periods is one thing she stressed on (which was reiterated by her T&T and West Indian teammate Britney Cooper), as the players and coaching staff believe in a tournament like this, spending time at the wicket almost guarantees you big scores. With most matches turning out to be low-scoring affairs in this year’s competition, this key component could prove to be the difference between the eventual winners and the disappointed finalists.
The Regional Women’s Super50 2016 was not necessarily successful, as a majority of the matches were rained out and Trinidad & Tobago only played one game. It was against Barbados and proved to essentially be the final. Aguilleira has no doubt revenge is on the mind of the Barbados players.
She stated, “they will have it in the back of their minds that last year they wanted the Championship so badly and we took it away.”
The competition itself comes at a crucial time for the West Indies women, as the regional team is preparing for the Women’s World Cup, to be held in England in June. There have been some deficiencies in the batting department for quite a few teams.
Stafanie Taylor made 89 in Jamaica’s final encounter, a score which only seven players have managed to amass throughout the tournament. However, there have been some dominant performances from Hayley Matthews and Deandra Dottin of Barbados, and Cooper and Stacy Ann King from T&T which are good signs, considering these women are all a part of the West Indies setup.
Performances with the ball have been exceptional so far however, with spinner, Afy Fletcher of the Windwards, leading the pack on 15 wickets. Matthews and Shamilia Connell have been excellent for Barbados, picking up 13 and 12 wickets respectively, with spin-twins Anisa Mohammed and Karishma Ramharack getting the job done for the T&T side, equally splitting 18 wickets between them.
The Final of the 2017 Regional Women’s Super50 will bowl off at 9:30am. (PR/SAT)
