West Indies aim to start fresh in their lung-opener against Thailand 

For West Indies, the year 2019 has been a tough one. From losing the star duo of Stafanie Taylor and Deandra Dottin for the most part of the year to losing the home series against India, things have gone downhill for the Caribbean girls after their last-four T20 World Cup finish in the 2018 edition. Come Saturday on February 22, Taylor and her entertaining bunch would definitely want to start afresh when they face newbies Thailand in their lung opener at the T20 World Cup at WACA in Perth -- in search for a better and memorable year.

Ranked fifth in the world, West Indies have the unique record of appearing in the semifinals of all the editions of the T20 World Cup (except 2009), and the 2016 champions would like to continue the momentum this time too and gun for their second title. Fact wise, the last time Taylor and Co. won the trophy, all the three mega tournaments (Men’s T20 World Cup, Women’s T20 World Cup and U-19 World Cup) happened in the same year. And with all the three major event happening this year, who knows, West Indies might do a repeat of 2016.  

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The fact that might go against the Windies, is that the current bunch -- as many as five new faces made their way from the squad that lost against India -- haven’t had required competitive game time together as a unit. While the return of Dottin and Taylor is surely a big boost for the side, it still remains to be seen whether they have got their combinations right having won two and lost one in the warm-ups.

Meanwhile, Taylor has warned the opposition that Windies will be treating Thailand just as any other opponent. “We’ll be looking at it exactly like playing Australia or India,” said Taylor during the pre-match press conference. “We’re taking it very seriously, for sure. We can’t think in the back of our minds that they know nothing about cricket because we haven’t played or seen much of them.”

“We can’t assume we’re just going to hit them all around the park. If we adopted that plan, it would definitely backfire. The ball is round and anything could happen. We just need to keep a positive mindset and make sure we do everything right,” added the skipper.

For head coach Gus Logie, it will be a sigh of relief that almost all his batters and bowlers have got some runs and wickets under their belts during the warm-ups. While the likes of Taylor, Hayley Matthews, Dottin, Britney Cooper got some knocking in the middle, seamer Shamilia Connell was the most economical, picking up a couple of wickets in the lost encounter against India. The WACA pitch, known as one of the fastest in the world, is sure to help the Windies pacers, and if they fire on all cylinders it’s going to be very difficult for the opposition.

On the other hand, Thailand have nothing to lose. Coming into the tournament on the back of four wins in their last five games, the entry of Thailand into the mega event – their first in history – has already created a buzz among the cricketing fans around the world.

Thailand’s dream journey began this time last year when they won the seven-team Asia Qualifier at home to qualify for the ICC T20 World Cup Qualifier, 2019 in Scotland. That run in the competition was part of their record 17-match winning streak in T20Is from July 2018 to August 2019. In Scotland, they topped their pool with three wins in as many matches and beat Papua New Guinea to book their tickets to Australia.

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Preparation-wise, Thailand also had a couple of conditioning camps besides a Quadrangular series involving India A and B teams and Bangladesh. They even stunned India A -- consisting three international players -- by posting 132 on board and then keeping them nine runs short.

Three of their key players – captain Sornnarin Tippoch, Suleeporn Laomi and Naruemol Chaiwai - were part of ICC’s Women’s Global Development Squad that trained with some Women’s Big Bash teams in Australia last year, which will be an advantage for them. Moreover, they also travelled to Australia early to acclimatize to the conditions.

While Tippoch's girls looked completely out of sorts in their warm-up match against New Zealand,  Thailand players were seen spending some time with New Zealand players exchanging useful words of advice for the debutants. “They taught us not to be scared of other teams,” said Tippoch.

“Whether we’re playing the West Indies, Australia or England, they told us to treat them like the opponent, and not the ‘big team’. Sophie Devine and Suzie Bates told us how to improve building our innings and said if we focusing on beating one team at a time and forgetting who they are, we can play well.”

Squads:

West Indies: Shemaine Campbelle, Deandra Dottin, Anisa Mohammed, Stafanie Taylor (c), Shakera Selman, Chinelle Henry, Shamilia Connell, Britney Cooper, Afy Fletcher, Hayley Matthews, Lee-Ann Kirby, Chedean Nation, Sheneta Grimmond, Aaliyah Alleyne, Cherry Ann Fraser.

Thailand: Sornnarin Tippoch (c), Nattaya Boochatham, Naruemol Chaiwai, Suleeporn Laomi, Nattakan Chantam, Chanida Sutthiruang, Soraya Lateh, Wongpaka Liengprasert, Nannapat Koncharoenkai, Ratanaporn Padunglerd, Rosenan Kanoh, Onnicha Kamchomphu, Phannita Maya, Thipatcha Puttawong, Suwanan Khiaoto.