CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand, CMC – West Indies Women’s captain Stafanie Taylor has underscored the importance of a strong start to their ICC 50-over World Cup campaign, when it gets underway next week.
The Caribbean side take on hosts and one of the pre-tournament favourites, New Zealand Women, in their opening game in Turanga next Friday, a contest which Taylor said could set the tone for her team’s run in the competition.
“We’re really excited about that. You probably wouldn’t want to play the hosts in the first game but it’s what it is,” Taylor said here at the official ICC captains media conference yesterday.
“I think for us, we have to go out there and play to the best of our abilities. You can see New Zealand doing pretty well, we’ve had a lot of cricket to look at, so hopefully we could get one over them.
“I think [us] starting first, you really want to start good, but [we] have to try and focus on us and nothing else.”
West Indies Women have won just four of their last 10 bilateral meetings against New Zealand, suffering a 3-0 drubbing away four years ago, winning 4-0 in the Caribbean in 2014 and losing 3-0 a year earlier in the South Pacific.
Earlier in 2013, West Indies Women had secured a 2-1 series win in Jamaica, the first ever over the White Ferns.
West Indies enter the March 4 to April 3 tournament aware of the need to compensate for a wretched campaign at the last showpiece in England four years ago, when they lost their first four matches to end sixth.
And Taylor said the key to an improved performance would be the consistency of the players.
“For us it’s more trying to be consistent as best as we can in the 50-over format,” Taylor noted.
“We know that it’s not always the best for us and I think we’re making strides. For us, it is more about improving every time and getting better at that, so not to look too far ahead but try to take each game step by step.”
West Indies Women take on Australia Women in their first official warm-up match today in Lincoln before clashing with India Women in their second warm-up match Tuesday in Rangiora.
The group stage of the tournament will see all eight teams play each other, with the top four advancing to the semi-finals.
