Sports Page — Sri Lanka and West Indies will aim to boost their standings when they go head to head in round three of the ICC Women’s Championship, which starts in Colombo on Wednesday
The series includes four ODIs but only the final three matches scheduled for 15, 18 and 20 May will count towards the eight-team ICC Women’s Championship. The top four sides from this tournament will qualify automatically for the ICC Women’s World Cup 2017, while the bottom four sides will play in the ICC Women’s World Cup Qualifier.
The West Indies is currently sitting fifth on the table while Sri Lanka is seventh. A 3-0 series victory for the visitors would see it join early pace-setters Australia at the top of the table.
Sri Lanka, in contrast, would create daylight between itself and India at the bottom end of the table if it wins the series. A series whitewash would see it move into third position on the league table, while a 2-1 victory for the hosts would see it climb two places to join England on seven points.
West Indies captain Merissa Aguilleira stated: “The team arrived in Sri Lanka a few days ago and had a successful training camp ahead of the start of the series which gave us an opportunity to get acclimatised to the Sri Lankan conditions.
“It is more humid than we are accustomed to but we have adjusted very quickly. The girls are coming off the domestic season in the West Indies and are ready and rearing to go. Although we have some of our experienced players absent due to injury, the players who have replaced them have all been in the team before and have fit very easily into the set up.
“We are determined to do well here because, coming out of our series loss in Australia, it is very important for us to gain points in this series to continue to compete for a top spot in the ICC Women’s Championship rankings.”