"Playing at home will give us an edge over all the teams": Stafanie Taylor

About being the defending champions whether they feel any pressure or not, Captain Stafanie Taylor shared, "I think, not just playing at home or even defending champions, I just believe as the West Indies what we bring to the table, we do get those people coming after us, even, because people have West Indies team as one of the teams to beat. So take away the fact that we're at World Cup, we go anywhere West Indies is one of the teams to beat."



Recently in their second warm-up game, Deandra Dottin opened the innings with Hayley Matthews against New Zealand. Talking about that, Taylor said, "Seeing her in action last night was pretty good. It would help her a bit more with the confidence level."



Whether home advantage matters or not, the captain replied, "When we play at home, we know the conditions very, very well. And I think that does give us an edge over all the teams. But saying that everyone is here to win that trophy and I know that everyone will play hard just like how we're going to."



Stafanie Taylor Pre-match press conference video:



https://twitter.com/WomensCricZone/status/1060791341951660032



Taylor is going to play in Guyana after 7-long years despite the warm-up match. "Providence is basically fairly new and what we have seen last night is pretty much what we expect and I don't believe that it will change so much. I mean, we're playing in the night. So when you think about the conditions due, I think it will be for both teams. But I guess the team that would play last, bowl last, might be the worst. But we just have to go out there and try to do what we can and just play what we see."



Though they are defending champion of World T20, West Indies didn't have a great series in the 50-over World Cup. Recently they have played against South Africa. "Well, we know that 50-over, we struggle a little bit where that is concerned. T20, you know, it's more of our game and we try to look at that aspect of the game, not focus too much on what happened last year, because that's the past. And T20 is here. And we're defending champions."



"I believe the support will be good. And I also should thank ICC,' as this year World T20 is going to be the first-ever stand-alone tournament.



Bangladesh has been in a great form throughout the year. They have won Asia Cup by beating India twice; including the final. But they lost against Pakistan in their recently concluded series. "I'm a bit concerned about the last series against Pakistan, but since then we have come here in the West Indies a week ahead of the tournament. Hoping to do well in the World Cup. I think that we have acclimatized with the condition with the wickets and now ready for the World Cup."



"I think that beating India is really a good sign, and had to play at their best to win against them," told Salma about their win in the Asia Cup.



"It will definitely come a bit, not too much, to our advantage since the condition is similar to the subcontinental wickets and all that. But still I think that even other teams which are not subcontinental teams are also prepared, and surely they have had preparations of this kind. They'll come prepared," expressed Salma Khatun.



Salma Khatun Pre-match press conference video:



https://twitter.com/WomensCricZone/status/1060771611689664512



"The team that has the courage to play well can play against any team. I do accept the fact that some teams are better. On a given day, even team like Bangladesh can create some disturbances to any the team. I'm very positive about it and don't consider the so-called big teams as much different from us," expressed the confident Salma Khatun at their pre-match press conference.