ST. JOHN’S, An­tigua – Crick­et West In­dies (CWI) has un­veiled the West In­dies se­nior women’s squad for their mul­ti-for­mat tour of In­dia sched­uled for De­cem­ber 2024. This cru­cial se­ries will see the team com­pet­ing in three T20 In­ter­na­tion­als and three One-Day In­ter­na­tion­als (ODIs).

The tour kicks off with the T20I se­ries at the Dr DY Patil Sports Acad­e­my in Navi Mum­bai start­ing on De­cem­ber 15, fol­lowed by the ODI se­ries at the Vado­dara In­ter­na­tion­al Crick­et Sta­di­um on De­cem­ber 22. The ODI leg car­ries sig­nif­i­cant weight as it con­tributes points to­ward the ICC Women’s Cham­pi­onship.

Cur­rent­ly ranked 6th in both T20Is and ODIs, the West In­dies Women will face a chal­leng­ing se­ries against third-ranked In­dia. Their pre­vi­ous vis­it to In­dia in 2016 saw con­trast­ing out­comes, with the West In­dies sweep­ing the T20Is 3-0 but los­ing the ODI se­ries by the same mar­gin.

This tour pro­vides an op­por­tu­ni­ty for the West In­dies Women to build on their im­pres­sive se­mi-fi­nal fin­ish in the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup held in Dubai. Mean­while, their op­po­nents, In­dia, re­cent­ly se­cured a 2-1 ODI se­ries vic­to­ry over de­fend­ing ICC Women’s T20 World Cup cham­pi­ons New Zealand. Cap­tain Hay­ley Matthews will lead the squad, how­ev­er, Stafanie Tay­lor re­mains side­lined due to an in­jury.

Head coach Shane Deitz ex­pressed op­ti­mism about the team’s progress. “We want to take the mo­men­tum we built at the T20 World Cup in­to this se­ries. Com­pet­ing against top teams has shown our po­ten­tial, and while there’s room for im­prove­ment, this se­ries is a great op­por­tu­ni­ty to el­e­vate our per­for­mance fur­ther.”

Deitz al­so high­light­ed the im­por­tance of gain­ing ex­po­sure in In­dia. “Play­ing in front of In­di­an IPL teams opens up fran­chise op­por­tu­ni­ties for our play­ers. This is es­sen­tial for their de­vel­op­ment and the growth of women’s crick­et in the re­gion.”

The squad will as­sem­ble in In­dia ahead of a 10-day ac­clima­ti­za­tion camp.

West In­dies Women’s Squad:

Hay­ley Matthews (cap­tain), She­maine Camp­belle (vice-cap­tain), Aaliyah Al­leyne, Shamil­ia Con­nell, Ner­is­sa Crafton, De­an­dra Dot­tin, Afy Fletch­er, Shabi­ka Gajn­abi, Chinelle Hen­ry, Zai­da James, Qiana Joseph, Mandy Man­gru, Ash­mi­ni Mu­nis­ar, Kar­ish­ma Ramharack, Rasha­da Williams

Tour Sched­ule

T20Is

1st T20I: 15 De­cem­ber 2024, DY Patil Sta­di­um, Mum­bai

2nd T20I: 17 De­cem­ber 2024, DY Patil Sta­di­um, Mum­bai

3rd T20I: 19 De­cem­ber 2024, DY Patil Sta­di­um, Mum­bai

ODIs

1st ODI: 22 De­cem­ber 2024, Re­liance Sta­di­um, Vado­dara

2nd ODI: 24 De­cem­ber 2024, Re­liance Sta­di­um, Vado­dara

3rd ODI: 27 De­cem­ber 2024, Re­liance Sta­di­um, Vado­dara

CMC