Former Windies Women’s Cricket skipper happy that competition has resumed

Former captain of the West Indies senior women’s cricket team, Merissa Aguilleira, who is currently the Technical Director for Women’s Cricket within the Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board said she is pleased that they were able to finally stage a competition.

“It is really good to have some cricket being played after the pandemic. I am really happy to see the younger ones going out there and showcase their talent,”Aguilleira told SEARCHLIGHT.

She was speaking at the Cumberland Playing Field at the end of the Under-19 Women’s Cricket series between Trinidad and Tobago and the Windward Islands in which the Trinidadians won 4-1.

The former Windies captain called for patience from persons noting that there is a lot of work to be done in developing the young female cricketers.

“We have seen there is a lot of room for improvement but will not let that bother us too much,” she added.

Aguilleira said “when it comes to women cricket everybody has to try and put their hands together and come up with a good initiative to push women’s cricket forward. Once the different governments understand that, then they need to get their hands on board when it comes to women’s cricket, even the territorial boards as well.”

Aguilleira pointed out that it is not just about Cricket West Indies, but the effort begins at home and that the territorial boards need to help push women’s cricket forward.

“Once we get that and we understand the importance of women’s cricket and people start taking women’s cricket seriously, I believe everything will be put into place.”

Aguilleira who retired from international cricket in 2019, did not single out any individual players, but told SEARCHLIGHT that “there is a lot of hope for women cricket in the region. After seeing this tournament there are a lot of players that we can pull from and see that our future is in safe hands, but it is really about the molding process of it.”

She said that if all things are put in place, there would be proper mentoring of the young players, a widening of the pool from which to choose players entering the senior squad, therefore bringing about increased success at the international level for West Indies women cricketers.

The former cricketer also said that media coverage would boost the players psychologically, noting: “I have been having a few one-on-one sessions with the players and that is one of the things that they have been concerned about, not getting enough media coverage. So the territorial boards need to get more involved, need to get the media to come out and take women cricket seriously, we can become a force to reckoned with in the future.”

SEARCHLIGHT was the only media house to have provided coverage of the series.

“… We need the media to publicise women’s cricket, to get women’s cricket out there in order to get our sponsorship and things that we have been lacking.

Once we can get the media to showcase women’s cricket and the talent that we have in the Caribbean we will be able to get sponsorship and our cricket will reach new heights,” Aguilleira stated.