'Windies qualified by sticking to a plan'

Mumbai, Feb 14 (IANS/CMC) Captain Merissa Aguilleira says West Indies women have a chance to be crowned World Champions of One-Day cricket because her players stuck diligently to the plan, entering the penultimate phase of the current tournament.

The West Indies qualified for the final Wednesday after defying the odds to snatch a shocking eight-run victory over Australia in their final Super Six game, reports CMC.

Aguilleira says the West Indies, who had earlier defeated South Africa and New Zealand, understood the importance of a hat-trick of Super Six victories.

“We understand how important these matches were in light of making sure that we get through to the final and we went out there with a plan,” said Aguilleira.

“The plan was to make sure and win all three matches and that is exactly what we did in order to go into the finals so accomplishing such is really great for us as a team knowing that they are higher ranked team than us.”

The Caribbean side bundled out the Aussies for 156 off 48.2 overs after batting first and putting a paltry 164 on the board, largely due to an aggressive 60 from Deandra Dottin.

It is the first time West Indies have qualified for the finals of the World Cup, and also their first win against the previously unbeaten Australia, five time champions.

Aguilleira says her players have been inspired by their male counterparts becoming World T20 champions last year, and are eager to bring glory to the Caribbean.

“We have a few days to think about it and to search and to see everything that we can do within those few days to get everything in order for the final day,” said the skipper.