St John's (Antigua), Aug 31 (IANS): A 13-member West Indies women's squad led by interim skipper Anisa Mohammed for the opening T20 International against South Africa Women at the Sir Vivian Richards Cricket Ground on Wednesday (IST) was announced by the Cricket West Indies (CWI) Women's Selection Panel on Tuesday.
Anisa Mohammed is the interim captain as Stafanie Taylor is unavailable for the T20I series due to serving a period of isolation in Antigua, after being identified as a primary contact of a COVID-19 positive case in Jamaica.
The women's chief selector, Ann Browne-John said in a statement that, "The T20I and ODI series against South Africa gives another opportunity for the team to play international matches ahead of the upcoming ICC World Cup qualifiers (In March-April next year in New Zealand). It is unfortunate that Stafanie will not be available for this series but there are a number of experienced players who we would be looking to, to fill any void.
"The young player Qiana Joseph brings another left-hand batter option as well as left arm orthodox bowling which has been lacking in the team. This will be a good test coming out of the recent Pakistan series, since South Africa is one of the higher ranked teams."
The West Indies women's team returns to the field after a successful double series win over Pakistan women, where they took the T20I series 3-0 and the ODI series 3-2. The West Indies women's squad has been preparing in a high-performance camp in Antigua prior to the upcoming series.
The second and third T20Is will take place at the Sir Vivian Richards Cricket Ground on September 2 and September 4 respectively. The five ODIs will be played from September 7 to 19, with the first three matches being played at the Coolidge Cricket Ground (CCG) and the last two at the Sir Vivian Richards Cricket Ground.
Squad: Anisa Mohammed (Captain), Deandra Dottin, Aaliyah Alleyne, Shamilia Connell, Britney Cooper, Shabika Gajnabi, Chinelle Henry, Qiana Joseph, Kycia Knight, Kyshona Knight, Hayley Matthews, Chedean Nation, Shakera Selman.