… Captains express confidence

THE eagerly-anticipated ICC Women’s Twenty20 World Cup in the Caribbean bowls off today in Guyana, starting with India and New Zealand at 11:00hrs.

Australia and Pakistan contest the second match at 16:00hrs, with the defending champions West Indies rounding off the day playing Bangladesh under lights from 20:00hrs.

This will be the first standalone Women’s World Twenty20 and the first global cricket event in the region since 2010.

Group matches will also be played at the Darren Sammy Cricket Ground in St Lucia, while the Vivian Richards Cricket Ground in Antigua will host both semi-finals on November 22 and the final on November 24.

No.1 ranked Australia have drawn arguably the tougher group for the 10-team tournament, with third-ranked New Zealand and fourth-ranked India also on their side of the draw, alongside Pakistan and Ireland.

Making up the other group are World No.2 England, the West Indies – who sit fifth in the multi-format rankings after a poor year in 50-over cricket – as well as South Africa, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

Each team will play four round matches and only the top two from each group will advance to the semi-finals, leaving little room for error.

Meanwhile, at separate pre-match press conferences yesterday at the Guyana Marriott Hotel in Georgetown, media operatives spoke with Windies captain Stefanie Taylor, New Zealand’s Amy Satterthwaite and Australia’s Meg Lanning.

Taylor, the Jamaican all-rounder noted that the side is happy with the preparation.

According to the captain, West Indies players understand their roles and with a wide variety among them the team can be one to go the distance.

Satterthwaite stated the team need to play consistent cricket if they are to stand a chance to progress in the tournament.

Australia’s Lanning said she was happy with the side’s progress so far, as she compared the conditions in Malaysia as similar to the Caribbean.

Further, in an effort to give persons the opportunity to watch the historic matches at Providence, shuttles will be used to transport fans from the following areas; Unity Mahaica, Corriverton, Albion, Rosignol, Soesdyke, Linden, Timehri and Parika.

Other games set for Guyana are as follows:

Sunday, November 11 – India vs Pakistan at 11:00hrs.
Sunday, November 11 – Australia vs Ireland at 16:00hrs.
Tuesday, November 13 – Pakistan vs Ireland at 16:00hrs.
Tuesday, November 13 – Australia vs New Zealand at 20:00hrs.
Thursday, November 15 – India vs Ireland at 11:00hrs.
Thursday, November 15 – New Zealand vs Pakistan at 16:00hrs.
Saturday, November 17 – India vs Australia at 11:00hrs.
Saturday, November 17 – New Zealand vs Ireland at 16:00hrs.