ICC announces venues for keenly anticipated Women's World T20 2018 in West Indies

Easily one of the most keenly anticipated contests of the women’s game this year is the Women’s World T20, to be hosted by the West Indies. But while one is yet to see what impact would be defending champions, Stephanie Taylor’s West Indies have on the tournament, the coveted venues for the sensational tournament have been named.



 



All eyes are fixated on Antigua and Barbuda, St Lucia and Guyana that will be the center of attention from November 9-24; key venues for a globetrotting tournament whose first edition took place way back in 2009.



 



But that said, going purely by current cricketing form, one reckons there might be an intense battle between India, Australia and South Africa, three of Women’s World Cricket’s seminal forces that contest with a level playing field comprising of match winning batting and bowling combinations. So even as the West Indies would hope to reinforce their strength in a template of cricket that seems to have favoured their waning, unpredictable fortunes of late, it might not exactly be a cakewalk for the hosts, who were hammered the last a reputable cricketing tournament unfolded in England, last year.



 



While presence of top-notch talents like Mithali Raj, SmritiMandhana, Harmanpreet Kaur, Stephanie Taylor, Hayley Mathews, Ellyse Perry, Alyssa Healy, Sarah Taylor, Dane Van Niekerk, Anya Shrubsole- leading lights of the women’s game would make for a tantalizing feast, the purists would wish to understand the true nature of the Caribbean pitches. These purists and critics might agree, are only a frail reminder of the halcyon days of legends like Sir Viv, Andy Roberts, Clive Lloyd or Wes Hall.



 



Where last two to three years of West Indies series are concerned, fans haven’t exactly been treated to kind of mean, bouncy and, tricky pitches of the seventies and eighties that often made batting a very fragile art and thus birthed some of the most destructive names where West Indian pace battery was concerned.



 



This boils down to seeing the present day grounds possibly offering a feisty contest between the agony of the white ball and the belting of the willow. But where the tournament’s past records are concerned, Australia would look at the West Indies as glorious reminders of their 2010 World T20 triumph. So will it go Australia’s way again or will sides like New Zealand or possibly, Sana Mir-led Pakistan aim for their maiden T20 glory? It’s all to play for come November.