By Anmar Goodridge-Boyce
All-rounders Asabi Callender, Trishan Holder and Naijanni Cumberbatch are set to create local sporting history by becoming the first Barbadian female cricketers to compete for the West Indies at an International Cricket Council (ICC) Women’s Under-19 Cricket World Cup.
The inaugural tournament bowls off next month in South Africa and Callender at age 21 is already buzzing having represented the West Indies this year in four tours.
“I played series before against United States of America, India, Sri Lanka and New Zealand.
“:It had always been a childhood dream, being able to play for the West Indies and it’s even a greater achievement to do it at the first Under-19 women’s World Cup,” she told Barbados TODAY during an exclusive interview.
For Callender, a former student of Christ Church Foundation School who is also a talented javelin thrower, it’s a dream come true and a testimony of her hard work in training.
“I am very thankful for the opportunity to represent the West Indies at the historic inaugural ICC Women’s Under-19 World Cup.
I have been eyeing this opportunity for the past two years. I believe that this is a step in the right direction to accomplish my ultimate goal of becoming a professional cricketer.
“I’ve put in a lot of work over the past two years with my father, BCA (Barbados Cricket Association) coaches and Sherwin Campbell.
“I look forward to wearing maroon on the international stage and getting some performances with both bat and ball,” she added.
The West Indies 15-member squad will be led by batting all-rounder Ashmini Munisar, who has been named captain.
“It is every cricketer’s dream to play for their country let alone be able to captain their team; it is an immense honour that I get to do it at this historic inaugural ICC Women’s Under-19 World Cup. We have been playing together for the past few months and all the players are gelling and progressing quite nicely – we’re all excited to represent the West Indies,” Munisar said.
In a media release last week, lead selector Mrs. Ann Browne-John said she believes the Under-19s are fully prepared for the tournament.
“The Under 19 girls T20 World Cup will be an historic event being the first of its kind in women’s international cricket. In preparation for this, the team embarked on tours of the USA and the recent Tri Series in India against the hosts and New Zealand. These series have identified some competent up and coming batters like Djenaba Joseph, Shunelle Sawh and Trishan Holder who are showing potential to transition to a higher level. We also had excellent performances from the two main spinners, Captain Ashmini Munisar and Shalini Samaroo.”
“We’ve held training camps over the past few months and the preparation will culminate with a final camp to be held in Antigua this month. This international exposure would no doubt be extremely beneficial, not only to this group of players, but also serve as an investment and feeder group into the senior West Indies Women’s set up,” she said. The West Indies have been drawn in Group C with Indonesia, Ireland and New Zealand.
