WWT20 TEAM GUIDES: West Indies, defending champions and hosts

Over the last decade the Windies have established themselves as one of the world’s best T20 teams and they pride themselves on playing entertaining and attacking cricket

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West Indies are not only the current holders of the T20 World Cup but also the hosts for this year’s competition.

Over the last decade they have established themselves as one of the world’s best T20 teams and they pride themselves on playing entertaining and attacking cricket.

Form

West Indies have very recently played South Africa in a T20 series which finished 2-2. After a strong start, winning the first two games, momentum shifted towards South Africa as the Windies lost the final two matches.

However, the series showed great promise for the Windies as several players performed well. Captain Stafanie Taylor  rotated the bowlers intelligently and contributed superbly with the ball. In the first game of the series she finished with 3-16 from her four overs.

Another stand out player, and one to watch, was Anisa Mohammed. Again in the first game, Mohammed’s bowling figures of 5-24 from her four overs saw her cause havoc among the South Africa batters.

The final two games were close, high-scoring affairs with South Africa just doing enough to bring themselves over the line.

The Windies also played New Zealand in a T20 series in March that saw them lose 4-0. Although some of the matches were close, the second T20 was won by the Kiwi’s by 106 runs after the Windies posted just 79 for eight. This shows that if the Windies are to go deep in the upcoming tournament, they must find consistency in their batting.

Overall in the ICC Women’s T20I rankings, the West Indies are placed fourth.

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Stafanie Taylor in action for Western Storm

Star players

Stafanie Taylor and Deandra Dottin

Captain Taylor is one of the most experienced players in women’s cricket. Not only does she captain her country but she has also represented Western Storm in the Kia Super League and Sydney Thunder in the Women’s Big Bash.

Taylor is a hard-hitting all-rounder who holds excellent batting and bowling stats. In her 88 T20Is she has scored 2,662 runs at an average of 36.97 and a high score of 90. To add to this, in those 88 games she has taken 74 wickets at an average of 17.10 and an economy rate of 5.46. Taylor is also ranked No.1 in the ICC T20 allrounder ratings.

This demonstrates how important Taylor is to the Windies side and if Taylor performs strongly in the competition, the Windies are likely to do well.

Dottin is another allrounder who became the first woman to score a century in T20Is during a World T20 match against South Africa in 2010. She consistently performs with bat and ball and her experience of playing over 100 T20Is for her country will be very useful in high-pressure games. Dottin is also ranked very highly in the ICC T20 allrounder rankings, placed at No.4.

Strengths

A key strength of the West Indies team is their ability to create partnerships at crucial stages in the match.

During the first T20 between the Windies and South Africa in their recent T20 series, when wickets and the run rate started to tumble, a vital partnership was formed between Merissa Aguilleira and Kycia Knight. This brought the Windies up to a total of 124 for six which proved to be more than enough.

Another strength is their spin bowling. The West Indies’ lead spin bowlers are Stafanie Taylor, Hayley Matthews and Anisa Mohammed. Mohamed has been described as ‘an off-spinner of some talent’ and in the 98 T20Is that she has played she has taken 113 wickets at an average of 16.40, an economy rate of 5.50 and best figures of 5-10.

Hayley Matthews has an equally impressive bowling average of 16.79 and she has taken 34 wickets in her 33 T20Is. Matthews is fourth in the ICC T20 bowling rankings.

Captain Taylor has so much experience playing in the world’s biggest competitions that she’ll know exactly what it takes to compete against the world’s best players.

WORLD T20 HUB

Weaknesses

A weakness of the West Indies team is their lack of consistency in putting a competitive total on the board.

This was shown in their recent T20 series with South Africa where they only posted one score of 150-plus. As women’s T20 cricket has advanced, what is considered a 'good' T20 score has increased significantly, and past records are being regularly beaten.

The Windies will have to focus on hitting big from the start to put pressure on the opposition and set big targets.

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Deandra Dottin

Chances of winning

With their strength of spin bowlers being suited to slow Caribbean wickets, the Windies will be confident of a strong tournament on home soil.

As current holders of the T20 World Cup, pressure will be on the team to play to the expectations of the home crowd.

Speaking about the high expectations as captain, Taylor said "it will obviously be a great feeling to be in the prestigious role at home but one has to also live up to expectations since we won the tournament in India last time".

The Windies are also in a tough group with England and South Africa being the favourites to progress out of the group stage.

Prediction: Group stage

Bet you didn’t know

Stafanie Taylor’s batting average of 41.82 at the Women’s World T20 is the highest among all players.

Fixture list (all UK time): Bangladesh (Nov 10, midnight), South Africa (Nov 15, midnight), Sri Lanka (Nov 17, midnight), England (Nov 18, 8pm)

WOMEN'S WORLD T20 SQUADS

 

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