(CMC) Veteran West Indies Women batsman Merissa Aguilleira says she is at a loss to explain the side’s wretched form in the ongoing ICC Women’s World Cup.
The Caribbean outfit, the reigning Twenty20 World champions, have lost all four of their tournament games along with their five warm-up fixtures to be winless on the tour.
“I am pretty much disappointed. I know the entire team is really disappointed in the way we [have] started off and keep going on throughout this tournament,” said the Trinidadian, who celebrated her 100th One-Day International in the eight-wicket defeat to New Zealand Women on Thursday.
“We know our potential, we knew what this team has and we know what we can do but apparently it’s just not clicking for us – nothing is working for us.
“I guess this time is where we have to regroup as a team and what I admire about the players is that they are sticking together in this rough period and we have to give God thanks for that because at the end of the day we could have been in a devastated place mentally.”
She continued: “Most importantly, we’re sticking together as a team and I believe we will bounce back and bounce back well.”
While West Indies have been unable to halt their losing slide, more worrying has been the manner of their defeats.
They lost their opener to reigning champions Australia Women by eight wickets, went down to India Women in their next game by seven wickets before suffering embarrassment in their third match against South Africa Women when they were bundled out for a tournament-low 48 to lose by 10 wickets.
On Thursday, their batting improved slightly, managing to muster 150 but it was not enough to press for their first victory as the Kiwis easily overhauled the target. Aguilleira said left-hander Kyshona Knight, who top-scored with 41, deserved some credit for her fighting knock.
“I think there are some positive things we can take out from this game,” the former skipper said. “We had Kyshona Knight who played extremely well. I’m sorry she didn’t carry on [and] I think that’s an area that we have to look at as well – players getting starts but not carrying on.” West Indies are stuck at the bottom of the eight-team rankings without a point, with only pride to play for in their three remaining games.
Aguilleira said it was important that the side entered these final fixtures as relaxed as possible so they could salvage some positive results.
“I think what we have been doing is just getting ourselves in a relaxing and good space because in a tournament we have never experienced something like this before,” the 31-year-old said.
“And just relaxing and trying to get your mind in that space where you are pretty much comfortable [is important so] you can build your energy from that, feed off of each other and go out there and try [to play] to the best of your ability.”
West Indies take on Sri Lanka in Derby on Sunday in their next game.
