National left-arm spinner Kaysia Schultz is banking on a solid performance in the Regional Women’s Super50 competition to stake a claim for a West Indies call-up.
Already a consistent feature whenever the Caribbean ladies have their training camps, Schultz, who turned 23 yesterday said, “It means a lot to play for the West Indies Women and represent my nation and I believe it will happen if I have a good outing in the regional tournament, I just have to keep working.”
The Craig, East Bank Demerara resident, has set herself the personal goal of finishing as the leading wicket-taker while cashing in on decent performances.
“Actually the goal is to take as much wickets as I can and hopefully, end as the leading wicket-taker which is something I believe I can accomplish.
“Also, I want to grab the opportunity with both hands whenever given to bat and get some runs to my name,” she added.
Schultz had little bowling opportunities in last year’s regional tournament with her confidence being one of the reasons. However, since then the Bartica-born spinner said she has worked hard to remedy that and is now ready to take the proverbial bull by the horn.
“One of the biggest things I can say I have improved on is my confidence when bowling and I have gained a lot of knowledge from the training camps so I think I’m ready to go up against the best,” Schultz stated.
Schultz picked up six wickets from three matches in the Guyana Cricket Board senior female 50-over Inter-County tournament with a best of four for 26 against the Select Under-19 last month.
Since then, the Novel Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic has halted all cricket and forced the postponement of the regional tournament until later this year, a move in which Schultz sees can work in her favour.
“I am really looking forward to playing the regional tournament and it’s sad to see how the virus has stopped everything but with the tournament postponed, I am using the time to get some more training done,” she explained.
Schultz, the second of five sisters, revealed that while the country is on partial lockdown and all public venues closed, she is training at home with her youngest sister, Keira as she aims to be fitter.
“Mostly I’ve been training with my smallest sister at home in Craig, she keeps me disciplined and helps motivate me…I’ve been trying my best to improve continuously,” she noted while explaining that apart from exercising and bowling to her sister, she has been utilizing YouTube to get guidance and see how other bowlers manage with variations while looking back at videos of herself to compare.