Taylor desperate for 50-over World Cup conquest

KINGSTON (CMC):

Last Saturday marked a year to go before the final of the ICC Women's World Cup in England, and West Indies captain Stafanie Taylor says she is quietly plotting the capture of the title at Lord's in a year's time.

The confident Jamaican has mapped out a one-year plan to lead the regional side to the prestigious 50-over title, which eluded them when they lost the last final to Australia in Mumbai three years ago.

Since then, they turned the tables on the Aussies, beating them in India three months ago to win the Twenty20 World Cup for the first time.

"The World Cup is what we want ... it is what we're chasing. We came close when they (Australia) beat us in India. In that tournament no one had us to make the semis, but we proved how good we are by making the final," Taylor said.

"Since then, we have improved more and it was great to win the World T20 in India earlier this year. We again showed improvement, and in the end, we were the best team in the tournament. We went out there and fought really hard and earned the title."

She added: "Now we want to win the World Cup and get our hands on both trophies. We know it won't be easy as the Aussies are a great team and England always play well at home.

"But we are planning well and we are focused on winning. We have demonstrated how good we are. Now we want to be consistent and dominant."

CRICKETER OF THE YEAR

Taylor was recently crowned as West Indies Women's Cricketer of the Year at the annual WICB/WIPA Awards in Antigua. She was one of the victorious team members who received commemorative gold rings.

The 25-year-old is rated as the best player in women's cricket and late last year won the ICC Women's T20 Player of the Year prize. Back in 2011, she was the ICC Women's Cricketer of the Year.

She has the best batting record in West Indies women's history, scoring 3,468 runs - including five centuries in 90 one-day internationals (ODI) at an impressive average of 45.6 runs per innings.

In 74 T20Is, she has made 2,208 runs with a top score of 90, coming in her first overseas tour to Ireland back in 2008.

"It feels good to win awards. It shows that your hard work is paying off. I want to keep working at my game, so, hopefully that will bring me more awards," Taylor said with a laugh.

"... But the awards I really want the most are the team awards. Those are the ones I value the most. Winning the World T20 really opened our eyes to what it means to win at the highest level and how much it means to West Indians."

West Indies Women's next assignment is a series of ODIs and T20Is against England in Jamaica in October.