Home fans in Antigua rally behind Windies Women

The steel drums were incessantly cheerful at the Sir Vivian Richards Cricket Ground in Antigua on Thursday, 1 November. When they took a break, Calypso music whipped up the festive fervour. Wafting through the air was the flavour of local delicacies – cakes and juices, seasoned rice, meats, pumpkins, potatoes and seafood – and the loud promises of the home chefs assuring you a delicious meal (or seconds, or thirds).

It was the 37th independence day of Antigua and Barbuda, and holiday crowds of all ages, many of them decked up in the typical national dress of a bright yellow, red, green and orange plaid, made their way to the stadium to celebrate.

Keeping patrons entertained on the day – apart from the plentiful choices at the food fair – was the cricket. It wasn’t quite time for the ICC Women’s World T20 2018, which will begin from 9 November, but the top teams of the women’s game were in town and warming up for their shot at silverware. South Africa and India, then hosts Windies and England, played unofficial warm-up matches at the ground, cheered on enthusiastically by the crowds.

“Swing it, girl! Get the runs but don’t get out!” shouted out someone. “That’s a two!” advised another.

“The atmosphere was one of the best I’ve played around,” said van Niekerk, the South Africa captain, on Friday. “It felt like an official game, I’m not going to lie, it got quite daunting!" South Africa fell three runs short of India’s total, and the captain admitted to feeling the heat. “I got quite a bit nervous at the end,” she said. “I kept on telling myself it was a warm-up game!”

“One of the players actually said to me, it’s the first she’s ever played in front of a crowd like that!” added Taylor, the Windies captain.

With that kind of support, the home team lifted their game. They threw themselves around the field and went for their catches: to shrieks of approval when they pulled it off, to a collective groan that echoed around the stands when they missed.

They bowled England out for 116, and chased it down with five wickets to spare, with Deandra Dottin’s 43 lighting up the night.

"The way the Windies Women played, it just shows what a team can do when the crowd gets behind you!” said van Niekerk.

“It was fantastic,” added Taylor. “It was good to see people come out and support [the team] – even though it was Independence and food fair, it was good to see they stayed back and watched the game, and that’s what we want.”

After the official warm ups in Antigua and Guyana, the main tournament kicks off with a triple-header on 9 November in Guyana. Group A action then moves to St Lucia, while the Group B teams stay in Guyana. The tournament will return to the Sir Vivian Richards Cricket Ground for the semi-finals and final, and the home team and defending champions are keen to be there again.

“For any team, winning at home is a big deal,” said Taylor. “You always want to win with the support of your fans, your families coming to see you. For us, it’s a big deal to retain the title, and not just that, [win] the first standalone Women’s T20.”

Nothing will make it sweeter than doing it in front of another set of large crowds.