JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (CMC) – As West Indies Women prepare to take on South Africa Women in their four-match One Day International (ODI) series today, captain Stafanie Taylor has challenged her side to focus on consistency and aggression, two elements she believes were missing when the teams met last year September in Antigua.

The Proteas Women won the T20 International series 3-0 and the ODI series 4-1.

But this time around, Taylor is more confident West Indies Women can perform better even though they will be in ‘South Africa’s backyard’ at the Imperial Wanderers Stadium.

Head coach Courtney Walsh challenged the team to score consistently around the 230-240 mark, with the top order contributing significantly to that.

“I’m pretty confident, I think for us it’s more consistency …. I think that’s something we’re trying to focus on. We know that we’re at a 230 (score), so we’re trying to make sure we consistently hit the 230 mark and then move from there,” Taylor said in a press conference yesterday, the eve of the opening game.

She is hoping the Caribbean women could capitalise on the absence of some key players in the South African side.

“South Africa are a good team and we’re playing in their backyard so we gonna expect that they’re gonna come hard at us. So, I think that we have to be aggressive as well. Looking back at the series against them we probably weren’t that aggressive so we probably need to be a bit more aggressive towards them.”

The West Indies Women scored 202 all out in 46.5 overs to defeat a South Africa Women XI by 53 runs on Tuesday in a warm-up match at the same venue.

Taylor said while the players were disappointed that the qualifiers for the World Cup were cut short, they would be prepared for the imminent series and the 2022 ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup in New Zealand starting in March.

“I think the players are managing pretty well…. We had five games here – we played a practice match and we have four games – so that should put us in good stead preparing for the World Cup right after,” she said.

The West Indies arrived in South Africa just under two weeks ago and have been acclimatising and training at the Imperial Wanderers Stadium in the lead-up to the series.

This is the first series the team will be playing since the cancellation of the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup Qualifiers in Zimbabwe last November.

The first ODI is day/night fixture with first ball at 14:00hrs. local time (08:00hrs. Eastern Caribbean/07:00hrs. Jamaica). The other three will be a day match on January 31, a day/night match on February 3 and another day match on February 6.

Full Squad: Stafanie Taylor (captain), Anisa Mohammed (vice-captain), Aaliyah Alleyne, Shemaine Campbelle, Shamilia Connell, Deandra Dottin, Afy Fletcher, Cherry Ann Fraser, Jannillea Glasgow, Chinelle Henry, Kycia Knight, Mandy Mangru, Hayley Matthews, Chedean Nation, Karishma Ramharack, Kaysia Schultz, Shakera Selman, and Rashada Williams.