Women's WC: Windies skipper Aguilleira rues batting failure

“Batting has been our downfall throughout the tournament.” Those were the words of West Indies skipper Merissa Aguilleira after her team were beaten by Australia in the final of the ICC Women’s World Cup 2013. The 27-year-old lost the toss and her team had their moments but never really threatened to undo a brilliant Australian side, aided by the return of Ellyse Perry and a 75-run knock from Jess Cameron. [caption id=“attachment_629493” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] The 27-year-old lost the toss and her team had their moments but never really threatened to undo a brilliant Australian side. Getty Images[/caption] The Windies were also uncharacteristically bad in the field, but Aguilleira couldn’t explain what went wrong: “I wouldn’t say the occasion got the better of us. There were nerves… but in a good way because to play in the final is something to be very proud of. I really don’t know what happened with the fielding today. We didn’t execute anything well.” While the losing captain took heart from the fact that the team beat the odds and made the final, she called for more improvement: “We did well, but there’s a lot to be done. We’re pleased as a team, we are happy and we have so much to be thankful of. From fifth place (in 2009) to second place is wonderful.” Aguilleira also divulged her plan to chase down a target of 260 runs: “We wanted to try and see off Ellyse Perry and Lisa Sthalekar, so that we could attack the other bowlers. That was the plan but it didn’t really work out. She said that her team “didn’t play as a unit” but there were lots of positives to take away from the tournament: “Deandra Dottin and Stefanie Taylor’s batting are part of a lot of positives that we can take from here. I think we now know that we need to build more on specialists. We can work on this area.” Aguilleira signed off by rounding up how good the tournament was for women’s cricket: “The tournament overall has been fantastic. It had some mishaps early on, but in terms of women’s cricket, there’s been lots of development. For example, I just can’t stop talking about Sri Lanka. We finished second and that’s great for women’s cricket in the Caribbean.”