By Avenash Ramzan
Four West Indian male cricketers and one from Bangladesh on Thursday braved an early morning shower to kick off the public relations campaign for the Guyana leg of the Women’s World T20 event, set for November across the Caribbean.
West Indies captain Jason Holder and Guyanese trio, leg-spinner Devendra Bishoo, batsman Shimron Hetmyer and all-rounder Keemo Paul joined Bangladesh spinner Mehidy Hasan Miraz at the Kitty roundabout to unveil a huge cricket bat under the theme “Watch This.”
The players took turns to pose with the World Cup trophy which the West Indies Women won for the first time in 2016 in India.
Guyana is one of three nations that would host matches in the November 9-24 tournament. The other host nations are Antigua and Barbuda and St. Lucia.
“I think it’s a great opportunity for us in the Caribbean (to host the World Cup). Obviously the last T20 the (West Indies) Women were victorious in lifting the trophy. I happened to be there in India on the finals day and it was a wonderful occasion to see the girls rallying amongst one another and everybody back in the Caribbean supporting them. Now, we’ve got an opportunity to come first hand and see it live in the Caribbean and I think it’s a wonderful opportunity for everyone to come out and see this spectacle,” Holder told the media.
The all-rounder used the opportunity to call on the Caribbean public to show support for the tournament by coming out to the games.
“It’s an opportunity for everyone to come out and support. They (West Indies Women) need as much support as they could possibly get. They’ve been doing well over the past couple of years and we’ve had some outstanding individual performances from the likes of Stafanie Taylor, Deandra Dottin, Hayley Matthews just to name a few, so hopefully the girls can continue in that vein,” Holder said.
And not surprisingly, Holder is backing the Taylor-led female West Indies team to make a successful defence of the title on home soil.
“Obviously. I think we’ve got what it takes,” Holder confidently stated.
Meanwhile, Mehidy Hasan Miraz believes Bangladesh females will do well in the tournament, after pulling off some memorable performances recently, among them winning the Asia Cup.
The 10-team tournament features three-time champions Australia, reigning ICC Women’s World Cup winners England, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka and defending champions West Indies, plus two qualifiers.
Guyana is set to host 11 of the 23 matches in the first stand-alone Women’s World T20 tournament.
