Mar. 19 — West Indies women’s team will have a month of intense preparation before the start of the International Cricket Council’s World Twenty20 Tournament in St Kitts. The Windies girls will assemble in St Kitts on April 11 for a specially arranged camp as well as a series of matches against Sri Lanka and Pakistan. At the camp they will work specifically on strength and conditioning, fitness and agility, tactical awareness, match simulations, as well as improving their skill levels. The West Indies will play two One-Dayers and three T20 warm-ups against the Sri Lankans from April 17 to 23. They will then host the Pakistanis in three T20s from April 26 to 29. The first round of matches for women in the ICC World T20 Tournament will be played at Warner Park in St Kitts from May 5-10. The semi-finals will be played at the Beausejour Stadium in St Lucia on May 13 and 14. The grand final will be played at Kensington Oval in Barbados on May 16. The Windies girls are ranked at Number 5 in the ICC Twenty20 table – following their fifth place at the ICC World Tournament in England last year. Team Captain Merissa Aguilleira said the camp will form a major part of the build-up to this year’s World Twenty20 Tournament, and the overall aim was win the coveted trophy. “We want to continue from where we left off last November when we beat England in St Kitts. That was a great tour and a wonderful experience so we want to continue the good work which we started. The matches against Pakistan and Sri Lanka will be crucial as we want to win and get into habit of winning,” she said. “We believe we will do well in the Tournament, and the overall aim of the team is to win at home for our fans. The camp is a key period as we want to make sure we get fully prepared and have everyone in the squad going in the same direction … we have several processes we have to go through as a team and the camp will be part of the ‘totally preparation’ stage. We want to be there on May 16 to lift the trophy, but to do that we know we have to go through the stages and work really hard.” Match schedule Saturday, April 17 at St Paul’s ODI: West Indies vs Sri Lanka Monday, April 19 St Paul’s ODI: West Indies vs Sri Lanka Tuesday, April 20 at Cayon T20: West Indies vs Sri Lanka Thursday, April 22 at Cayon T20: West Indies vs Sri Lanka Friday, April 23 at Cayon T20: West Indies vs Sri Lanka Monday, April 26 at Molineux T20: West Indies vs Pakistan Tuesday, April 27 at Molineux T20: West Indies vs Pakistan Thursday, April 29 at Molineux T20: West Indies vs Pakistan For more details and highlights visit: www.windiescricket.com
