Team focus… Estwick calls for collective team effort

Head coach Roddy Estwick has called on Barbados Women to produce a “team performance” to compensate for the absence of star duo Hayley Matthews and Deandra Dottin, in the Regional Super50 Cup starting later this month.

Matthews, the West Indies captain and one of the leading players in the world, is currently campaigning at the Women’s Premier League in India, along with veteran all-rounder Dottin, who is also among the world’s best. As a result, both will miss the February 22 to March 8 domestic championship being staged in St Kitts.

Estwick said with the pair missing, it was critical the other players stepped up in a collective effort.

“It has to be a team performance – we’re not looking at any superstars. Our superstars are in India so everybody has to chip in,” said Estwick.

“Obviously the Knight twin (Kyshona and Kycia) will be expected to do the bulk of the batting but we expect a lot from the three young batters as well – (NaiJanni) Cumberbatch, (Asabi) Callender and (Trishan) Holder.

“We’re trying to prepare them as much as possible with the bowling machine and being able to bat for long periods, and we’re trying to do some technical work.

“(Alisa) Scantlebury is also one that has been around for a while so she will have to step up to the plate as well and fill in that void left by those two outstanding individuals.”

Matthews, the West Indies captain, is ranked seventh in the International Cricket Council’s batting rankings, ninth in the bowling rankings and third in the all-rounder charts.

The 26-year-old, an elegant right-hander and incisive off-spinner, has already scored 10 international hundreds and taken over 100 wickets in each white-ball format.

Dottin, 33, who only returned to international cricket last year following a shock retirement, has made five international hundreds and grabbed 150 wickets across both formats.

The Barbados squad will be led by West Indies all-rounder Aaliyah Alleyne and will include fast bowler Shamalia Connell who has played 150 internationals for the Caribbean side. Holder, the vice-captain, has featured in nine internationals.

Three players who represented West Indies at last month’s ICC Women’s Under-19 World Cup in Malaysia – Cumberbatch, Callender and Erin Deane – have been named in the Barbados squad.

Estwick, a former West Indies men’s coach, said the squad represented a nice blend of young and experienced players.

“There’s a good mixture. You’ve got what we call the senior players – we’ve got six senior players and I always say in coaching, it’s best to learn from your peers,” Estwick pointed out.

“So Kycia will do the batting – at that [team] meeting she will dissect the batting – Connell will do the bowling and Kyshona will do the fielding, just to get the players to understand and hear from their peers instead of hearing the coach’s voice all the time and I think that works well.”

Barbados Women will be hoping to improve on their showing in last year’s tournament when they lost two of their five matches to finish fourth, as Jamaica lifted the title.

But Estwick said while winning was important, developing the young players and seeing them make the West Indies squad was a critical objective.

“Yes I would like to win but if I can see three or four of those young players breaking into a West Indies squad [and] Connell getting back to her best, then that would mean success for me, where we could have five for six Barbadians in a West Indies team,” he stressed.

“There’s no point winning the tournament and nobody has moved on. We want to see them at the next level playing for West Indies, going on to play franchise cricket around the world, and going on to play IPL. That would mean success for me.”