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My passion for cricket was ignited from the age of 17. Throughout my entire career, holding the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup was when I decided that this was markedly the best experience ever and I would do it all over again. The memories of India 2016 have become so dear to me that I know my itch to do this memory justice will guide me in my success in the coming years.
This is I, Stafanie Taylor, captain of the West Indies Cricket team, vocalizing my World cup experience in a few words. The memories of our journey four years ago are as clear as day, we were struggling to make it past the semi-finals and we gave it all we had. Our opposing team Australia were looking to earn their fourth Championship title of the series, so we had a huge hurdle to overcome.
With our heads up high and our country’s pride deeply rooted in our minds, we played the game with blood, sweat, and tears. We wanted to keep pushing until the last ball, the mission was to bring the trophy back to West Indies. In the end, we earned the title.
As a captain, I respect the position I am in and seek to make sure that I am deserving of this captaincy at every given moment. I encourage and motivate my players and try to bring out the best in them. I constantly remind them of how we need to uphold the pride of our country. I feel quite good when I contribute to the team’s success as well, be it with the bat or ball.
Records are meant to be broken, but that does not make it a lingering aim we must constantly shoot at. The more important thing is that we do our best in every game and play it with the same passion and love we had it for it the first time.
Our team has an amazing array of players who have displayed their skill and dexterity in the past International matches. Deandra Dottin an experienced player who is versatile with both the bat and ball is back after injury which is an added advantage to us moving forward. A few other absent members will be re-joining us this year and two other valuable members of the team are being sidelined due to injury.
The ICC T20 2020 World cup is not going to be any different from that of four years ago. We have brilliant, well-trained teams in the opposition but we are not going down without a fight. We as a team are going to make sure we are focused; our eyes are on the prize. The pressure is undeniable, a whole country, a whole team is upon my shoulder, in addition to the pressure I give myself. But compartmentalizing it instead of letting it overwhelm us is what will get us a win. We are not ready to let this title slip away that easy. This is the strategy and mindset we will follow and hopefully we come out successful in the end.