ICC Women's World Cup 2017: Sana Mir and Stafanie Taylor looking to end campaign on a high

Though West Indies were nearly forced to fight in order to bag their first ICC Women’s World Cup 2017 victory last time, captain Stafanie Taylor believes her team is in a perfect place to take forward the confidence gained from the win.

Their latest challenge is against Pakistan who have suffered a poor run in the tournament themselves. The two sides will face each other at Grace Road, Leicester on Tuesday. However, both teams must be well aware that reaching the semi-finals is no longer a possibility. But that should not make the game any less important for Taylor who is looking to build on Sunday’s 47-run triumph over Sri Lanka.

Pakistan is looking for their first victory in this edition of the prestigious 50-over tournament, but the 26-year-old emphasizes that she and the team will be put their best show on display to finish as high in the standings as possible. “This win has added to our confidence. We’ve been fighting really hard to win a game and we know there are two more to go,” said Taylor.

“We know how important these games are. We definitely want to win them and go home on a high. Going into Tuesday’s game, we know it’s not going to be easy because Pakistan haven’t won a game,” she added.

The Windies spinners were responsible for spinning a web around the Sri Lankans in order to receive victory but they will also be wary of Pakistan’s spin attack. Even though the next game is a dead rubber, the teams will not be looking at it that way.

“We know Pakistan’s usual team. They are going to come with their spinners because that’s what they mostly do to all the teams. We should counteract their bowlers. Pakistan has always been a fighting team when they are playing against anyone, but I think everyone thinks West Indies is a team they want to beat. They all come out hard against us,” she added.

Pakistan’s elimination was confirmed on Saturday when they suffered a heavy loss to New Zealand, at Taunton, their fifth defeat in the competition. Sana Mir, captain of the Pakistan team played her 100th ODI match in the previous game. She, like Taylor, is aiming to end the campaign of the Pakistan team on a good note.

“It’s extremely important for us to finish this tournament on a strong note,” said Sana. “We started off with a strong game, then things started slipping off, so it’s extremely important to finish well. We have to be patient with the team, not having Bismah Maroof around makes things tougher as a batter. There have been a couple of times where we’ve lost early wickets where she could come in and give us a platform to put a good total on the board,” Sana said.

“The youngsters have showed promise in the previous tournaments but they haven’t been able to apply it in the World Cup. Everyone in the team is looking to take responsibility, I’m scoring runs so it’s more important for me to do that. I have belief in the same batting line-up, they have the potential and have played really well in the previous matches,” she concluded.