Dubai. Australian women’s team skipper Jude Coleman is a captain who has never failed.
She is into her 12th year as captain and every time she has ensured to lift the world cup.
When Gulf News asked whether Australia, riding on her experience, will cruise to another World Cup triumph, Coleman said: “We definitely don’t think it will be easy. We are expecting extremely tough competition. There is definitely pressure on us as we are a team that has never lost a world cup final but we have prepared well and we are really excited about what lies ahead.
Coleman enjoys the challenge of increasing standard in women’s cricket. “We have set the standard and we find that other teams are always trying to catch up with us and we are wary of it,” said Coleman.
“Indoor cricket is growing really fast. We are getting more and more exposure from social media. We have a very good domestic competition back home and that allows us to improve our skills every year,” said Coleman, who wants women’s indoor cricket to become more popular. “Women’s indoor cricket has a long a way to go with regard to popularity. We hope that every year we get more and more teams. Women’s outdoor cricket is growing in leaps and bounds so hopefully that will have some effect on indoor as well,” she said.
New Zealand skipper Regina Lilli is hoping that her team’s hardwork may be rewarded. “We’ve got a new team and we’re in a new place so a lot of the focus is on us and the girls have worked really hard to get here, so we are going to make the most of our opportunities, we have nothing to lose so we are going to give it our best shot.
England skipper Niki Patel is also aiming to stun teams. “This is one of the best ever teams we have brought here to the World Cup, and we have trained really hard over the past few months. We are being seen as underdogs, but we are hoping to shock a few teams this year, ” said Patel.
