West Indies women’s tour of Sri Lanka 2015 was officially launched on 12th May with the official press conference held at JAIC Hilton Ballroom on Tuesday evening.
This will be a very important bilateral series for both countries in order to consolidate their place in the ICC Women’s Championship and especially for the hosts, Sri Lanka who are languishing in the 7th place with only three points in six games while the Caribbean girls are currently at 5th position with six points from same number of matches. The final three games in the four-match ODI series will count towards the ICC Women’s Championship.
Mr. Carlton Bernadus, Head of Cricket Operations, Sri Lanka Cricket shared his views at the start of the media briefing, “I would like to extend a warm welcome the visiting West Indies women’s team. This is the 2nd time in 3 years that they are here to play women’s cricket. This will be an important tour to both teams keeping in mind of the ICC Women’s Championship and for them to improve on their rankings. We at Sri Lanka Cricket organize and manage these tours for the betterment of our players and to test their abilities effectively. “
Chamari Atapattu, skipper of the Sri Lanka women’s cricket team explained her thoughts on her team and the challenges ahead, “ This is a very important series for us. We have prepared really well for this tour from the day we returned from January after playing against Pakistan women’s team in UAE. We played a lot of practice games this time around to make sure we are right on track. We have identified that they are bit vulnerable against the spinners so we have included few more spin-bowling options. Our side is a very good mix of young players and experienced cricketers. This is the 4th tournament under my captaincy but we are fully motivated in a good mindset as a team to give a good fight to the Windies and win the series. Unfortunately the injury to my right-hand will keep me out of few matches, I am hoping to rejoin the team from at least the 3rd match.”
“It is really humid here in Sri Lanka, but we will have to adapt to the conditions. It is always been a pleasure playing here. We are really excited about this tour. Sri Lanka is a very good team and they have shown quite a lot of progress in the past few years. We cannot take any team for granted because anything is possible in cricket. Sri Lanka will bring their ‘A’ game and they have the home advantage as well but we will make sure we do what we have to win the series.” A confident and passionate, West Indies skipper Merissa Aguilleira said.
The Lankan head coach and former Sri Lanka player, Jeewantha Kulatunga expressed his comments on the much-anticipated series ahead and the team’s preparation, “We played few trial games and then we played matches with men’s teams as well. Physically and mentally we are in a good position to win. During the last Pakistan three-match series, we dropped around 18 catches, we have done our homework on our fielding apart of intense training on batting and bowling. We have a squad of about 25 players who are all capable of making the final XI at any time. “
West Indies head coach, Vasbert Drakes spoke on his team ahead of this crucial bilateral series between the 5th and 7th ranked teams in the ICC Women’s Championship points table, “ We have a side filled with match-winners but we always try not to emphasize on individuals, we want to go out there and win as a team. All will have to contribute in order to win. I hope the weather
would be kind on us to have a very competitive series. “
At the end of the media briefing, both captains’ posed with the series trophy in what would be a keenly-contested battle to lift it at the end of the tour. Though the visitors hold the edge, the hosts can ruin the Windies party.
West Indies Women’s tour of Sri Lanka schedule:
13th May: 1st ODI at R. Premadasa Stadium (10am)
15th May: 2nd ODI at R. Premadasa Stadium (10am)
18th May: 3rd ODI at R. Premadasa Stadium (10am)
20th May: 4th ODI at R. Premadasa Stadium (10am)
23rd May: 1st T20I at R. Premadasa Stadium (10am)
25th May: 2nd T20I at R. Premadasa Stadium (10am)
26th May: 3rd T20I at R. Premadasa Stadium (2pm)
