West Indies, Sri Lanka look for first win

• Sri Lanka’s Sripali Weerakkody: “We have beaten them already in so many matches, so we are looking forward to beating them again.”
• West Indies batter Merissa Aguilleira: “In the midst of the negativity, there are some positives we can take.”
• The match can be watched live on ESPN 2 Caribbean and Espnplay.com in the West Indies; Channel Eye and channeleye.lk in Sri Lanka
• Pre-match audios, photographs from West Indies v Sri Lanka match and post-match video interviews to be available at the Online Media Zone

Sri Lanka is confident it will record its first win at this year’s ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup when it takes on the West Indies in Derby, according to Sripali Weerakkody.

Both sides have four losses from four games in the group stage and Sunday’s match at the County Ground represents a big chance to notch up a first win of the competition.

And Weerakkody is brimming with confidence, believing that previous victories against its opponent will help Sri Lanka once again.

She said: “We are hoping to win our future matches. We have so many juniors in the team, so we can give a chance to them and do something good for the future.

“We are looking to the future in Sri Lankan cricket.

“We want to field better than we have, and I think we can do something in the West Indies match.

“I think we can get some points against them. We have beaten them already in so many matches, so we are looking forward to beating them again.

“Their batting is very good and because they have [Stafanie] Taylor and [Deandra] Dottin, they can hit it over the rope.

“In my mind, I have beaten Taylor and Dottin already, I can take their wicket.”

West Indies lost its last fixture by eight wickets to New Zealand, meaning only three wins from its remaining three games will give it a slim chance of qualifying for the final four.

Despite being disappointed with the way the tournament has gone so far, Merissa Aguilleira is still hopeful West Indies will take something from its final three games.

She said: “The entire team is really disappointed at the way we have started off and continuously gone on in this tournament.

“We know our potential, we know what this team has and what we can do but apparently it is not clicking for us.

“We have to regroup as a team and what I admire about the players is that we are sticking together in this rough period. I’m confident we will bounce back and bounce back well.

“In the midst of the negativity, there are some positives we can take. Kyshona Knight played extremely well and I’m sorry that she didn’t carry on.

“That’s an area we have to look at, players getting starts but not carrying on. I truly believe that we will come together.”

In the West Indies, the match will be live on ESPN2 Caribbean and Espnplay.com, while it can be watched live in Sri Lanka on Channel Eye and channeleye.lk.

Squads:
West Indies: Stafanie Taylor (captain), Merissa Aguilleira, Reniece Boyce, Shamilia Connell, Shanel Daley, Deandra Dottin, Afy Fletcher, Qiana Joseph, Kyshona Knight, Hayley Matthews, Anisa Mohammed, Chedean Nation, Akeira Peters, Shakera Selman, Felicia Walters, Kycia Knight and Subrina Munroe

Sri Lanka: Inoka Ranaweera (captain), Chandima Gunaratne, Nipuni Hansika, Chamari Athapaththu, Ama Kanchana, Eshani Lokusooriya, Chamari Polgampala, Harshitha Madhavi, Hasini Perera, Udeshika Prabodani, Oshadi Ranasinghe, Shashikala Siriwardena, Dilani Manodara, Prasadani Weerakkodi, Sripali Weerakkody and Eshani Lokusuriyage

Umpires: Shaun George and Claire Polosak

Match referee: David Jukes

Points Table (as of 7 July)