New-look Jamaica women cricketers halted by flight cancellation
Flight cancellation halted Jamaica's senior women cricketers' departure from the island yesterday, and the Shane Brooks-coached players will have to wait a while longer before they get to St Kitts, where the CG United Super 50 Cup and Twenty20 (T20) Blaze competition will be played.
The limited overs tournament is scheduled to start on Monday, and Jamaica, like the other teams in the competition, have been forced to include young players, with Jamaica having West Indies under-19 pair of Leena Scott and Kate Wilmot. Veteran Stafanie Taylor leads Jamaica once again.
"The format of the competition is a little different this year where CWI has mandated that two under-21 players have to be included in every squad, and with that, we have selected batter Scott and fast bowler Wilmot who bring something different to the squad," said coach Brooks.
The other newcomers are Shereka Shelton, Nicole Campbell and Sherene Burnett, who will join stalwarts like Chedean Nation, Rashada Williams and Venessa Watts.
Missing from this year's team is West Indies' player Chinelle Henry, who recently had surgery, while veteran wicketkeeper Tameka Sanford has been overlooked, with Williams taking over the duties behind the stumps.
Brooks hopes the new players can inject much-needed energy into Jamaica, who won the T20 Blaze and lost out to Barbados in the Super 50 tournament last year.
"If you can remember from last year, we were very slow and heavy in the outfield, so we made a few changes to be a lot more mobile and to have more energy in the field so that our out cricket can be better," added Brooks.
The CG United Super50 Cup matches will be played at three venues - Warner Park, the Conaree Cricket Centre and St Paul's Sports Complex from May 8-17 May with the T20 Blaze running from May 20-27.
Jamaica bow into action on Monday against the Leeward Islands at St Paul's Sports Complex.
Jamaica Senior Women's squad: Stafanie Taylor (captain), Chedean Nation, Rashada Williams, Keneshia Ferron, Lena Scott, Natasha McLean, Neisha-Ann Waisome, Jody-Ann Brown, Vanessa Watts, Celena Whyte, Nicole Campbell, Kate Wilmo tt, Shereka Shelton and Sherene Burnett.