Taylor hopes to maintain momentum after 3-0 win over Sri Lanka

The Windies captain Stafanie Taylor is hoping that the 3-0 victory over Sri Lanka in the opening series of the ICC Women’s Championship will develop into a habit for her side in the coming months.

“Winning all three matches was important. They say winning is a habit and success breeds success. This will help our confidence going forward in the championship. Getting all six points from this series was important and we did it,” Taylor said after her side beat Sri Lanka in the three matches by six wickets, seven wickets and 40 runs in Trinidad from 11-15 October.

The accomplished all-rounder said the team had achieved what it set out for and was looking forward to playing “more experienced sides” in the eight-team championship in which all sides get to play each other in three ODIs each. Australia, World champions England, India, New Zealand, Pakistan and South Africa are the other sides in the championship, which runs till 2020.

Women’s World Cup 2021 host New Zealand and the three other top teams from the championship will gain direct qualification for the ICC women’s pinnacle event while the remaining four sides will get a second chance through the ICC Women’s World Cup Qualifier 2021.

“We are a group of highly motivated, young women and we want to prove ourselves on the world stage. Therefore, we can only improve by playing regularly at a high level, so we welcome the opportunity that the ICC Women’s Championship provides for us.”

Taylor said she was happy with her team’s performance but that there are areas to improve.

“Our spin bowling more or less has been one of our strengths in recent times. We have an experienced spin bowling unit, including Anisa Mohammed, Afy Fletcher, Hayley Matthews and myself. We all have over 50 international matches, so our success as a group in this area was not totally unexpected.

“We are still not satisfied with the totals that we put on the board. We have to post bigger totals, as this is one of the things that hurt us in this year’s ICC Women’s World Cup in England. We have to post consistently big totals, so that we can put pressure on the opposition and give our bowling attack more runs to defend,” said Taylor.

Sri Lanka captain Inoka Ranaweera was hoping for a quick turnaround after the Windies series.

“It was disappointing not being able to win any match. Our batting did not click and that was the reason why we could not make a fight of it. There were some good performances from Yashoda (Mendis), Shashikala (Siriwardene) and (Dilani Manodara) but I think we are capable of doing far better as players and as a team.

“Stafanie and their spinners put up an inspired performance and I felt they were very confident playing at home. We too have some good spinners but somehow we could not really pull it off. We have to forget the results here and gear up for other challenges ahead. We still have the T20I series to play in the Windies and the ICC Women’s Championship has only started.

“This tournament provides us with a lot of exposure and we look forward to making the most of other chances that come our way. We have to take on stronger teams in the months ahead, so we will have to work hard in order to do well.”

Upcoming series of the ICC Women’s Championship include a high-profile clash between present and former World Cup champions England and Australia from 22-29 October in Australia. In other series, Pakistan host New Zealand in the United Arab Emirates (31 October to 5 November) and South Africa play at home against India (5 to 10 February 2018).

Meanwhile, in the MRF Tyres ICC Women’s ODI Player Rankings, all-rounder Matthews has gained six slots to reach 26th position among batters while Merissa Agulleira (up four places to 37th) and Kyshona Knight (up nine places to 77th) are the others to move up for the Windies. Manodara (up six places to 35th) has moved up from among the Sri Lankan batters.

Among the bowlers, Windies off-spinner Anisa Mohammed has moved into 10th position after gaining three slots while Mathews (up six places to 31st), Shakera Selman (up seven places to 32nd) and Afy Fletcher (up 11 places to 35th) are the others to move up for the home side. Captain Inoka Ranaweera (up four places to 20th) has gained in the rankings for Sri Lanka.

Scores in brief:

1st IWC ODI: West Indies won by six wickets

Sri Lanka 136 all out in 39.4 overs (Yashoda Mendis 34, Hayley Matthews 3-18, Stafanie Taylor 3-24, Afy Fletcher 3-42)
West Indies 138-4 in 39 overs (Merissa Aguilleira 32 not out, Inoka Ranaweera 2-27).

2nd IWC ODI: West Indies won by seven wickets

Sri Lanka 162 all out in 46.3 overs (Afy Fletcher 3-24, Anisa Mohammad 2-16, Srafanie Taylor 2-31)
West Indies 163-3 in 39.4 overs (Stafanie Taylor 60 not out, Deandra Dottin 37 not out).

3rd IWC ODI: West Indies won by 40 runs

West Indies 182-8 in 45 overs (Stafanie Taylor 55, Hayley Matthews 41, Merissa Aguilleira 37 not out, Shashikala Siriwardene 3-26)
Sri Lanka 142 all out in 40.4 overs (Dilani Manodara 42, Rebeca Vandort 36, Stafanie Taylor 3-29, Shakera Selman 3-32).