Windies Women head home today

ST JOHN’S, Antigua (CMC):

West Indies Women will leave Oman for the Caribbean today, after nearly two weeks of “mentally taxing” quarantine in the Gulf state.

The Caribbean side travelled to Oman via Namibia, following the cancellation of the International Cricket Council 50-overs World Cup Qualifiers, because of the emergence of a new strain of COVID-19 late last month.

Zimbabwe, along with Namibia, South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho, Eswatini, Mozambique and Malawi, were hastily blacklisted by the United States, United Kingdom and several European Union nations, and slapped with travel restrictions, after the discovery of the Omicron variant in southern Africa.

“We are pleased to confirm that the West Indies Women’s squad will soon be making their way back home,” Cricket West Indies (CWI) Chief Executive Johnny Grave said.

“We want to thank them for their patience and understanding as we worked with our counterparts at the ICC and Oman Cricket to facilitate their return at the earliest opportunity.

“We want to express our appreciation to the ICC, Oman Cricket and our operations team, who have worked tirelessly to ensure everyone was comfortable, and remained safe.”

CWI announced via Twitter on November 29 that the squad had arrived in Oman but there had been no further word on the length of stay in Oman or travel plans to the Caribbean.

Head coach Courtney Walsh said the disruption of the last two weeks had been “mentally taxing” but said management had ensured players remained upbeat.

“The team is relieved by the good news that we will be home with our families before Christmas,” the fast-bowling legend said.

“The sudden cancellation of the qualifiers and transition period in Oman has been mentally taxing on the entire team, both for the players and management staff.

“As a management group, we tried to ensure that the players remained in a positive frame of mind.

“Our strength and conditioning coach created a fitness challenge for all of us to participate in for the duration of the quarantine period, as it was something to take our minds off what was happening.

“I must say thanks to our team manager, the ICC and Oman Cricket, for all their logistical work in ensuring we’re on our way home as quickly as possible.”

West Indies Women completed only one game in the World Cup qualifiers, beating Ireland Women by six wickets.

Their second game against Sri Lanka was abandoned after a member of the Asian side’s support staff tested positive for COVID-19.

West Indies, Bangladesh and Pakistan will advance to next year’s World Cup in New Zealand as the highest ranked teams.