Times are changing for women’s cricket in the Caribbean, and Stafanie Taylor and Anisa Mohammed couldn’t be more pleased.
Starting today, the two West Indies powerhouses and some of their teammates will join the Caribbean Premier League party through the women’s 6IXTY and T20 competitions.
“We see ourselves as pioneers but it’s more about the youngsters coming in and making sure they get a foothold and help develop West Indies cricket because we definitely need that,” said the former WI skipper Taylor on Monday during a virtual pre-tournament. press conference.
“When you look at our system,” she added, “we probably don’t have the best systems, but we definitely have some young players coming through.
“We had our U-19 regional tour and a West Indies U-19 team that went to the USA. “I watched some of those games and saw some young prospects and it looks good; so now I can say it looks like we’re going in a direction we really want.”
Mohammed admitted that “a lot has changed from when I started to now.”
“When I started, we didn’t have contracts. Now we have contracts; we have more opportunities to play international cricket. We have more women’s cricket camps and now we have CPL and 6IXTY so it’s really exciting and as you can see we’ve come a long way over the last two decades.”
Mohammed is particularly pleased to see the creation of the Women’s CPL. “We have always wanted a women’s CPL and to be able to play for TKR, my country, Trini, I am very excited and looking forward to this opportunity,” she said with a beaming smile.
And Windies’ all-rounder in white-ball cricket is confident that TKR led by recently retired all-rounder Deandra Dottin will put up a good show. “I think we have a pretty balanced team,” Mohammed said.
“Looking at our squad, we’ve got strong batsmen, we’ve got good bowlers and we’ve got a lot of players with a lot of experience under their belts, so we’re really hoping that will be enough to help us get over the line in this field. the tournament.”
TKR will have in its ranks not only regional players, but also the representative of South Africa Sune Luus and New Zealand Hayley Jensen. “I think they are really quiet but good players,” Mohammed noted. “We really hope that they will be able to make big impacts in this tournament and hopefully help TKR.”
But apart from the success the duo could bring to the team, Mohammed said the influence of all the overseas players could tell for the future of the game in the Caribbean.
“For some of our younger players who haven’t played in the West Indies team, to be able to share the same dressing room with these international players is a big deal for them and I really hope they can learn something from these players. and that they will be able to improve their game and one day make it to the West Indies team and be able to represent at international level.”
Mohammed and her teammates first go into action today in the women’s 6IXTY in St Kitts. It will be the first time the format has been played in the Caribbean and Mohammed predicted it will test the players’ thinking skills as much as their physical prowess.
“I think it will be very interesting,” she said. “Some of the new rules, where there are only five (six) gates; so yes, you will see powerful batting, but you also have to see where the batsmen can think during the game and try to think through ten overs…and you also have to see the bowlers thinking…
“Also getting the fans involved with that free kick, you don’t know when it’s going to come, you don’t know who’s going to take that free kick, so I think we’ve got some interesting rules in that. tournament and we’re really looking forward to it.”
How to vote for
the 6IXTY fan ball
The process by which viewers can vote for the Mystery Fan Ball on SKYEXCH 6IXTY has been announced. Fans will be able to choose between four randomly selected deliveries on the Hero CPL and SKYEXCH 6IXTY Chat app.
The result of this vote will be kept secret until the referee signals that the Mystery Fan Ball will take place. The runs scored by this ball will be added to the team’s total as extras and as a result will not be credited to the batting score and will not be added to the bowler’s figures.
You can download Hero CPL and SKYEXCH 6IXTY Chat app by clicking here or searching for CPL 6TY Chat in your app store. This technology is powered by SAYTV.
Chris Watson, Hero CPL Head of Marketing, said: “No cricket tournament has brought fans closer to the action than SKYEXCH 6IXTY and this exciting innovation will give fans real control over how the game plays out.”
