January 30, 2013 at 5:54 p.m.
Trio of teens boost women's squad
The team is missing some of its best players but coach Arnold Manders is confident they can give a good account of themselves at the Americas Championship in Fort Lauderdale.
He said the sport was beginning to grow in Bermuda as more and more women started to see cricket as an option.
The current squad features a few experienced campaigners like TerryLyn Paynter and Maryellen Jackson,
But with opening bowlers Shuntae Todd, who has school commitments, Reana Richardson, who was involved in a bike accident, and Brittany Marshall, who has a shoulder injury, there are a few new faces.
Manders has been impressed with youngsters like Akeyla Furbert, 14, Precious Smith, 13 and 17-year-old seam bowler Jenay Edness, whose older brother is national team wicket-keeper Jekon Edness.
"They have improved dramatically over the past few months," said Manders.
"The younger players, in particular, have shown a lot of potential."
The women's team are scheduled to compete in a 20-20 tournament against the U.S., Canada, Brazil, Argentina and Trinidad and Tobago.
The top three go into a 40-over tournament with the best two teams from that triangular series going forward to next year's play-off series to decide which of the Americas teams is represented at the World Cup Qualifiers.
Bermuda made it all the way to the qualifiers in South Africa last time out where they found out how tough life is at the top level in the women's game, bowled out for 13 against the hosts.
But Manders said that setback had not put them off and the main aim was to grow the sport in the country and develop the women's game before they could move up the rungs of the international ladder.
"We have a girls development team playing in the U11 league, our women's team is playing in the Evening league and in the boys U17 league and quite a few of the women are also playing in the Under-14 boys league.
"The more games they can get the better. We're hoping to start a women's league later this year. It's a growing sport and hopefully we can get more girls involved."
He said no prior experience was necessary and urged any girls or women interested in taking up cricket to call the BCB on 292-8958.
"Bermudians are pretty talented generally so it is just a case of getting them started, teaching them the basics and going from there."[[In-content Ad]]
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