Two Trinis among 18 WI Women contracted by CWI

CRICKET West Indies (CWI) has expanded the number of West Indies Women’s players offered retainer contracts for the 2021/2022 season to a record 18 players.

A CWI media release on Thursday said this is an increase of three retainer contracts compared to the 2020/2021 season, with contracts offered for the first time to developing young players – Kaysia Schultz and Qiana Joseph. Shawnisha Hector, who was previously contracted, has been given another contract for the upcoming year.

The three players will join the 15 retained players from the 2020/2021 season, including captain Stafanie Taylor, dynamic all-rounder Deandra Dottin and the leading T20 International wicket-taker Anisa Mohammed. Mohammed and Karishma Ramharack are the two TT players contracted.

“This marks a continuation of CWI’s investment into women’s and girls cricket which aims to strengthen and widen the talent pool available, as well as encourage greater participation into the women’s game,” the CWI release said.

CWI’s lead selector for women’s and girls cricket Ann Browne-John, said, “The last contract period did not see many international matches as we only played five T20 International matches against England. Despite this, the contracted players were able to keep themselves fit and match-ready. It was therefore the fairest decision to return all 15 to contract.”

Discussing the three additional players who have earned contracts, Browne-John said, “There has been a lack of left-arm orthodox bowlers in the region. Therefore Joseph and Schultz will hopefully help fill this void, with Joseph also bringing her left-hand batting skills which is also limited in the region. Hector is one of the bright young fast bowlers who has been bowling with great aggression in the past few training camps.”

CWI’s director of cricket Jimmy Adams said, “I am delighted for all the players who have been awarded central contracts, especially those who are new to the contract list. We saw fit to expand the list of retained players by awarding additional development contracts to three young players who the selectors strongly recommended for inclusion.”

The West Indies Women are now in Antigua for their second high-performance camp of the year under head coach Courtney Walsh.

The evaluation period for the 2021/2022 contracts covered performances and statistics from April 1, 2020-March 31, 2021 (this was also supported by statistics from the previous 2019/2020 evaluation period). This allows for all players to be appraised immediately after the evaluation period and provides a notice period before new contracts on July 1, 2021.

West Indies Women’s Contracted Players

Aaliyah Alleyne, Shemaine Campbelle, Shamilia Connell, Deandra Dottin, Afy Fletcher, Cherry Ann Fraser, Shabika Gajnabi, Sheneta Grimmond, Shawnisha Hector, Chinelle Henry, Qiana Joseph, Hayley Matthews, Anisa Mohammed, Chedean Nation, Karishma Ramharack, Kaysia Schultz, Shakera Selman, Stafanie Taylor