Windies Women ready for Pakistan

After being inactive for more than nine months, the West Indies Women's team will get a chance to shake off that rust as they get ready to face Pakistan Women in the first Twenty20 (T20) International starting today in Antigua.

The West Indies Women's senior team will play three CG Insurance T20Is against Pakistan Women from June 30 to July 3, with the West Indies Women's 'A' Team also playing their historic, first-ever three-match T20I Series on the same dates.

The West Indies Women's 'A' team, to be led by Reniece Boyce, will get things going at 8 a.m. Jamaica time before Jamaican Stafanie Taylor and the senior side square off against their Pakistan counterparts at 1 p.m.

Taylor and the rest of the West Indies players have been in camp for close to two months with new head coach Courtney Walsh, and she is eager to get back out on the park and test all the skills the team has acquired during the lockdown period.

"The expectations will be high but we don't want to get ahead of ourselves," she said. "Pakistan has been playing some good cricket, so we are not going to underestimate anybody. For us, it's more about taking it one step at a time." Taylor will welcome back a few familiar faces to the West Indies set-up, with veteran off-spinner Anisa Mohammed coming back into the fray along with the Knight sisters, Kyshona and Kycia. Leg spinner Afy Fletcher and wicketkeeper Shemaine Campbelle have been ruled out due to personal reasons.

The hard-hitting Deandra Dottin and Hayley Matthews are expected to lead the charge with the bat, while Mohammed and seamer Shamilia Connell and Shakera Selman are the trump cards for Taylor with the ball.