Interim West Indies Women’s head coach, Andre Coley, believes the batting department holds the key to their side being competitive against England Women in their upcoming five T20Is.
Coley, yesterday spoke to the media via Zoom conference and was asked by Stabroek Sport what he felt would be the key to success on tour.
The head coach responded, “…If our batting is able to set challenging totals or chase down totals to win them that would be very good…”
Coley went on to reflect on the team’s performance over the last few years and indicated that he notes the success the bowling department has had while the batting department has been inconsistent.
“Over the years watching women’s cricket, the bowling has always been a strength and has done very well. The batting at the moment in recent past has been inconsistent and I believe herein would lie the key if we are going to have any kind of success on tour.” The former Jamaican first-class player stated. Coley posited that should the side have success, the batting needs to fire. “If we are able to maintain our effectiveness in our bowling backed up by some good fielding,” he added.
However, Coley admitted it will not be a walk in the park since there are obvious challenges posed to the team.
“I think not having a lot of time to have played or train before is probably the biggest challenge but I believe as West Indians we are always resilient…The players are very keen and very eager to do well so I am very confident we will give a good account of ourselves and that we would be very competitive,” he declared.
Nevertheless, Coley is firm on his opinion that once the series starts, the team will be able to improve.
“The fact that we have spent two-and-a-half weeks here I believe will help us get into some sort of readiness and I believe once we start to play the international matches we will be fine. A lot of those things that we are used to doing will come back to us,” he said.
The series begins on September 21.
