Not much is writ­ten about the his­to­ry and de­vel­op­ment of West In­dies women’s crick­et es­pe­cial­ly when com­pared to WI men’s crick­et. While it is im­por­tant to ac­knowl­edge a gap ex­ist in the lit­er­a­ture, a con­cert­ed ef­fort must be made to fill this void. This chal­lenge is com­menced with a brief gen­er­al in­sight in­to the 33 T&T play­ers who have played for the WI in any of the three for­mats from 1976 to the present.

The West In­dies women have played a to­tal of 12 Test match­es since their in­au­gur­al Test se­ries against Aus­tralia in the Caribbean in 1976. Be­tween 1976-79 they played 11 match­es and their last Test match was in 2004 against Pak­istan.

Eleven (11) TT play­ers have rep­re­sent­ed the WI in test crick­et: Louise Browne; Bev­er­ly Browne; Jas­mine Sam­my; Meno­ta Tekah; No­ra St. Rose; Pa­tri­cia Al­fred-Moses; Shirley-Ann Bona­parte; Mer­lyn Ed­wards; Fe­li­cia Cum­mings; Stephanie Pow­er and En­vis Williams. Louise Browne was the first WI test cap­tain and along with sis­ter Bev­er­ly Browne, Jas­mine Sam­my, and Meno­ta Tekah played in the WI first test match against Aus­tralia in 1976. Stephanie Pow­er was the cap­tain of the Test match against Pak­istan in 2004.

Louise Browne is the lead­ing WI Test bat­ter with 348 runs in nine match­es with the high­est score of 67 and two half-cen­turies. Bev­er­ly Browne with 324 runs in 11 match­es with the high­est score of 72 and two half-cen­turies, is sec­ond among WI bat­ters. Oth­er no­table T&T run scor­ers are Jas­mine Sam­my with 134 runs and Shirley-Ann Bona­parte, 106 runs. The lead­ing T&T bowler in Test crick­et is No­ra St. Rose with 10 wick­ets at an av­er­age of 16.00 and best bowl­ing of 3 for 21. Fe­li­cia Cum­mings in her on­ly Test match in 2004, has the best bowl­ing fig­ure for a T&T play­er of 4 for 54 against Pak­istan.

West In­dies played its first One Day In­ter­na­tion­al (ODI) against Eng­land in 1979 and since then 31 play­ers from T&T have played for the West In­dies: Louise Browne; Bev­er­ly Browne; Shirley-Ann Bona­parte; Jas­mine Sam­my; Mer­lyn Ed­wards; Pa­tri­cia Al­fred-Moses; Ann Browne-John; Eve Cae­sar; Di­anne Ca­gen; Car­ol -Ann James; De­sire Luke; Cher­ry-Ann Singh; Stephanie Pow­er; Anne-Marie McEwen; Gwen Smith; Bren­da Solzano; En­vis Williams; Shane de Sil­va; Nel­ly Williams; Fe­li­cia Cum­mings; Anisa Mo­hammed; Kir­by­i­na Alexan­der; Sta­cy-Ann King; Meris­sa Aguilleira; Lee-Ann Kir­by; Gaitri See­ta­hal; Aman­da Sama­roo; Brit­ney Coop­er; Fe­li­cia Wal­ters; Re­niece Boyce; and Kar­ish­ma Ramharack.

The lead­ing T&T ODI bat­ter is Meris­sa Aguilleira with 1752 runs in 112 match­es with a high­est score of 71 and six 50s. She is al­so the lead­ing WI wick­et­keep­er with 104 dis­missals - 78 catch­es and 26 stump­ings. Aguilleira al­so cap­tained the WI ODI team on 74 oc­ca­sions (2009-2015) with a win­ning per­cent­age of 53%.

Fol­low­ing Aguilleira is 2. Sta­cy-Ann King 885 runs in 75 match­es with a best of 70; 3. Nel­ly Williams 620 runs in 30 match­es with a best score of 82 not out and three 50s; 4. Anisa Mo­hammed 512 runs in 122 match­es with her high­est score be­ing 31; 5. Brit­ney Coop­er 448 runs in 43 match­es. Her best score was an un­beat­en 55 not out; 6. Car­ol-Ann James with 250 runs in 11 match­es and she pro­duced a best of 99 not out and two 50s; 7. Ann Browne-John 204 runs in 11 match­es with a high score of 65 not out; 8. Stephanie Pow­er 183 runs in 34 match­es with a best of 28; 9. Shane de Sil­va 173 run in 18 match­es with 38 as her best, and 10. En­vis Williams 120 runs in 21 match­es with a high­est score of 28. Ann Browne-John (9 match­es); Stephanie Pow­er (25 match­es); En­vis Williams (1 match) and Anisa Mo­hammed (1 match) have al­so cap­tain the WI ODI team.

Anisa Mo­hammed has been the lead­ing wick­et-tak­er for the West In­dies in ODI with 122 wick­ets at 20.51 with a best bowl­ing fig­ure of 7/14. The oth­er T&T ODI bowlers in­clude 2. Sta­cy-Ann King 22 wick­ets with best bowl­ing of 3/33; 3. En­vis Williams 18 wick­ets with a best bowl­ing of 3/9; 4. Kir­by­i­na Alexan­der 17 wick­ets with a best of 3/6; 5. Car­ol-Ann James 16 wick­ets with a best bowl­ing of 3/16; 6. Cher­ry Ann Singh 13 wick­ets backed by her best ef­fort of 5/36; 7. Fe­li­cia Cum­mings 12 wick­ets with best bowl­ing 3/30 and 8. De­sire Luke 10 wick­ets with best bowl­ing of 3/27.

Since the WI first T20 against Ire­land in 2008, ten (10) T&T play­ers have played for the WI: Kir­by­i­na Alexan­der; Sta­cy-Ann King; Lee-Ann Kir­by; Anisa Mo­hammed; Gaitri See­ta­hal; Meris­sa Aguilleira; Brit­ney Coop­er; Aman­da Sama­roo; Renice Boyce; and Kar­ish­ma Ramharack.

The lead­ing T&T T20 bat­ter has is Sta­cy-Ann King with 989 runs in 86 match­es with a high­est score of 81 and 3 50s. Fol­low­ing King is 2. Meris­sa Aguilleira 768 runs in 95 match­es with a high­est score of 39 not out; 3. Brit­ney Coop­er 582 runs in 69 match­es with a high­est score of 61 and 4. Anisa Mo­hammed with 151 runs and a high­est score of 20. Aguilleira has 72 wick­et­keep­ing dis­missals (38 catch­es and 34 stump­ings).

As in ODIs, Anisa Mo­hammed is the lead WI wick­et-tak­er with 120 wick­ets at 17.30 with best fig­ures of 5/10. Sta­cy-Ann King is the on­ly oth­er TT bowler to have tak­en more than 10 wick­ets in T20 with 18 wick­ets and best bowl­ing fig­ures of 3/19.