Kycia Knight will join twin sister Kyshona Knight in the Women’s World Cup © WICB
After crashing to 48 all out – their second-lowest total in ODIs, West Indies suffered further blows, losing fast bowlers Shakera Selman and Shamilia Connell to injuries. Perhaps with a mind to bolster their batting, Kycia Knight, who has not played international cricket since the 2016 World T20, was brought into the squad. Alongside her came 32-year old medium-pacer Subrina Munroe, who was last seen in West Indies colours in May 2015.
Selman has been ruled out after being struck on the helmet while fielding at short leg during West Indies’ opening game at the Women’s World Cup last week. In their next one, opener bowler Connell left the field after bowling only four overs and has been diagnosed with a hip injury. The ICC’s event technical committee – comprising Geoff Allardice (ICC, chairman), Campbell Jamieson (ICC representative), Steve Elworthy (Tournament Director), Alan Fordham (host representative), Anjum Chopra and Alison Mitchell (both independent nominees) – has approved their replacements.
Kycia, twin sister to Kyshona, who is already in the squad, made her debut in 2011as a wicketkeeper-batsman. She has played 44 ODIs to total 762 runs – the eighth-highest tally for West Indies in Women’s ODIs. Munroe, meanwhile, has 11 wickets in 23 ODIs at an average of 51 and economy-rate of 3.8.
West Indies are one of three teams to have lost every match they have played at the Women’s World Cup, but their captain Stafanie Taylor has not lost hope. While admitting to deficiencies in their line-up, she believed, with four more games left, there was still time to rally.
“I guess when you look back at the game [against South Africa], especially for the batters, we just got out softly and a lot of our batters, especially at the top order, we didn’t apply ourselves properly. We’ve been in England for a while, it’s not like we’ve come here yesterday where we don’t know what has been happening. I didn’t think that our mindset was right. I don’t think we were focused.”
When pressed on how she was going to lead West Indies’ turnaround, Taylor offered a very frank reply.
“I’ve been asking myself that, to be honest. As a captain, you are thinking, you’ve lost all three games, what do you say to these players now?
“But if you really want to make it to the semi-finals, you’ve just got to find a way to turn it around. We’ve lost three games now, we have four more games to go, so we just have to bounce back and keep fighting. There’s still a chnace, I do believe there is still a chance, we still have games to go and teams that I know we can beat. As individuals, we really need to look into ourselves and see what we’re doing wrong and just to rise above.
West Indies’ next match is against former champions New Zealand on July 6.
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Source: ESPN Crickinfo