PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad - (CMC) - West Indies coach Ann Browne-John is eyeing a home series and an Asian tour next year in preparation for the 2005 International Women's Cricket Council (IWCC) World Cup tournament.
After impressively advancing from the IWCC qualifiers in the Netherlands last weekend, Browne-John is hoping to secure sponsorship to finance West Indies tours of Pakistan and India.
"We are now in the process of trying to finalise our preparation plan, which includes tours to Pakistan and India," Browne-John told CMC Sport on Saturday.
"We would also like to get a team to come to the Caribbean - England maybe - and we also need to hold some camps," Browne-John added.
The Women's World Cup will be staged in South Africa, February-March 2005.
In the Netherlands, the West Indies rebounded from a first match defeat against Ireland, to win all their remaining games and clinch second spot - behind the Irish - and an automatic spot to the World Cup.
PRAISES RESILIENCE
Browne-John praised the resilience of her team after a frustrating 72-hour delay at London's Heathrow Airport because of striking airport workers resulted in their late arrival for the tournament.
They had to face Ireland only a few hours after they arrived in the Netherlands, and lost by 28 runs, but rallied to post successive wins against the hosts, Scotland, Pakistan, and Japan.
"I was most pleased with the maturity that they showed after losing the first game, when coming to play a few hours after arrival," Browne-John said.
Nelly Williams, the Trinidad and Tobago Under-23 captain, topped the team's batting averages at 47.00, while the left-handed St Lucian Nadine George led the aggregate with 114 runs, averaging 38.
Off-spinners Indomatie Goordial of Guyana and St Lucian Verena Felicien, led the wicket-takers at eight each, with the teenager Goordial having a marginally better average of 7.38 to Felicien's 7.63