WWT20 venue profile: Daren Sammy Cricket Ground

The fixtures for the ICC Women’s World T20 2018 have been announced, with the Daren Sammy Cricket ground set to host nine of them. Situated in St Lucia, the native island of the former Windies captain, the ground is the oldest venue that will be in use at the tournament, having first hosted international cricket in 2003.

It was the first venue in the Caribbean to host day-night Test cricket, with the Windies thumping Zimbabwe by 10 wickets in 2006, and has developed a taste for witnessing the occasion before the big occasion, having played host to one of the semi-finals in the men’s Cricket World Cup 2007, and both semis in the the men’s and women’s World T20 2010.

The knockout game between Australia and Pakistan was particularly notable, with Mike Hussey smashing six sixes in a 24-ball 60, taking 22 from four Saeed Ajmal deliveries as the Aussies gunned down 18 off the last over.

The Women’s World T20 semi-finals were more sedate affairs, although they did feature excellent individual performances from White Fern Sara McGlashan, who scored 84 against Windies, and Alex Blackwell of Australia, whose 61 helped Australia overcome India.

As good as those were, surely unmatched in the list of feats seen at the ground is Rashid Khan’s 7/18 against Windies in 2017, which helped Afghanistan defend 212 and secured their first-ever ODI win over a Full Member other than Bangladesh or Zimbabwe.

**Fixtures:**10 November: England v Sri Lanka
12 November: England v Q1, Sri Lanka v South Africa
14 November: Sri Lanka v Q1, Windies v South Africa
16 November: England v South Africa, Windies v Sri Lanka
18 November: Windies v England, South Africa v Q1