West Indies and England ready for key IWC series by International Cricket Council

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Event:	ICC Women's Championship 2014 to 2016/17
Other links:	Points Table

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DateLine: 13th October 2016

 

The West Indies hosts England for an important ICC Women’s Championship (IWC) series as the race for the final three automatic qualification slots for the ICC Women’s World Cup 2017 gathers more pace.

 

Australia has already assured itself of a place in the ICC Women’s World Cup 2017 reaching 30 points from 18 matches of the IWC but the race for the three remaining slots is now incredibly exciting as the eight-team competition reaches its final stages.

 

The West Indies and England are on 20 and 19 points, respectively, after 15 matches each. South Africa is currently hosting New Zealand in another series that is part of the IWC. The teams have split the first two matches of their three-match series and are on 18 and 17 points, respectively, making the mid-table extremely tight.

 

West Indies captain Stafanie Taylor sees an opportunity to take the lead in such a scenario and is aiming for full points in the series in Kingston which will be played on14, 16 and 19 October.

 

“We want to win all the games – that’s our aim and what we are working towards. England are pretty much close to us and will be challenging, but if we work hard, we will definitely get some points,” Taylor said after the teams split the two preceding ODIs which were not part of the IWC series.

 

“We never give up, it has always been like that. We always have that self-belief. We definitely need our two components to go out there and fight for it– bat and bat properly, bowl and bowl well,” Taylor said.

 

Taylor said the team could do better than in the two ODIs against England.

 

“I don’t think our batters have applied themselves well, so we will have to go back to the drawing board and work things out. I’ve not played in Kingston for a long time but I’m hoping the sun will be the same as here and we will get a good track,” Taylor said.

 

England captain Heather Knight exuded confidence ahead of the series but said one had to watch out for a player like Taylor, who is her team’s leading scorer in the championship and second overall with 658 runs and the only one from either team ranked among the top five batters in the MRF Tyres ICC ODI Women’s Player Rankings.

 

“This is a massive series for both teams as we move into the business end of the ICC Women’s Championship. Every match of international cricket you play, you want to win it for your country, but with the added aspect of IWC points being up for grabs and qualification for next summer’s ICC Women’s World Cup in England being on the line, every run and every wicket will matter.

 

“We know how talented this West Indies team is, and led by a world-class player in Taylor, they will be a dangerous proposition in home conditions. But we approach this series full of confidence,” she said.

 

Knight said she was expecting the pitches to aid turn but that her team was well prepared for it.

 

“Both sides have several spin options – we have two world class off-spinners in Danielle Hazell and Laura Marsh, alongside our two rookie left-armers Alex Hartley and Sophie Ecclestone, so I’m sure they are all looking forward to having a big impact across the series. How we as batters play against their spinners is also obviously going to be very important, on slow turning pitches and with big slow outfields – we will need to run well between the wickets and make every run count,” she said.

 

(Article: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author only.
Copyright © 2016 International Cricket Council)