Cooper says T20 champions anxious to prove their ODI pedigree

Cooper says T20 champions anxious to prove their ODI pedigree

Published: Guardian
Sunday, April 17, 2016

West Indies senior team player Britney Cooper
West Indies Women batsman Britney Cooper says the Twenty20 World Cup champions are out to prove they can also be a force to be reckoned with in the 50-overs format.

The 26-year-old, who played a key role in the women’s capture of the T20 title in India last month, said the Caribbean side had already turned their attention to next year’s 50-overs World Cup scheduled for England.

“A lot of people feel the West Indies team only knows how to play T20 cricket but it is much more than that,” Cooper said.

“I believe we have an opportunity to show all the world that we’re not only a World Cup T20 side but we can also play one-day [cricket]. We’re hoping when we go to England next year that we can bring home another championship back to the Caribbean.”

The triumph in the T20 World Cup was their first ever in that format but the women have already strung together some impressive performances in past 50-overs World Cup. In fact, they were good enough to reach the final of the last tournament in India three years ago, when they lost to Australia Women by 114 runs.

Cooper, whose career-best unbeaten half-century against New Zealand Women in the semi-final put the Windies Women in the T20 World Cup final, says she was focussed on improving her batting in order to strengthen the ODI unit.

“I don’t see myself as a T20 player. I really want to find myself higher up the order in the one-day team,” she said.

“I bat at five, six sometimes so one day I hope that I can be batting at number three for four, or even opening the batting for West Indies.”

Cooper made her debut in 2009 and has since played 31 ODIs and 46 T20s. The Women’s Cricket World Cup is scheduled for July 26 to August 23 next year.