West Indies Women Launch Intensive Eight-Week Antigua Camp Ahead of Packed 2026 Calendar
HIGHLIGHTS
- Starting October 20, approximately 20 senior squad members will participate to prepare for their demanding 2026 schedule.
- The team faces a landmark year featuring the ICC Women's T20 World Cup in England, with series against Sri Lanka, Australia, Ireland, Pakistan and Zimbabwe.
- The camp will focus on strength and conditioning, individual skill development, and team culture/leadership, with an emphasis on small-group coaching geared towards players reaching peak performance levels.
ST JOHN’S, Antigua – The West Indies Women’s Senior Team has begun an intensive eight-week training camp in Antigua as they prepare for a landmark year in 2026, featuring six tours, 15 ODIs, a Test match and the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup.
The camp, which started on 20 October, is designed to lay a strong foundation as the Maroon Warriors gear up for a demanding international schedule.
West Indies Women's Team on tour in England in May
The regional side will start the year by hosting Sri Lanka in February, followed by an all-format home series against Australia in March and April.
In May, the squad travels to Ireland for a tri-series with the hosts and Pakistan before heading to England for the T20 World Cup. After the tournament, they return to Ireland for a bilateral ODI series in July. September and October will see the squad do battle against Zimbabwe in a white-ball focused tour, before closing the year with another white-ball home series against Pakistan in December.
Approximately 20 senior squad members are in camp, with the goal of having the full group fully prepared by the end of the year to sustain peak performance particularly for the World Cup.
The camp is structured around three pillars: strength and conditioning, individual skill development, team culture and leadership, with small-group coaching being put in place to ensure individualized attention and high-performance standards.
With the squad set to spend long stretches together in 2026, part of the camp’s focus is building a strong team environment and leadership depth. Mental Skills Performance Coach Nadine Sammy will guide initiatives to unify goals and strengthen leadership across the group.
West Indies Women's Head Coach Shane Deitz
Head Coach Shane Deitz, underscored the importance of this preparation window as the team looks to improve on their semi-final finish in the last T20 World Cup and chase its first title in a decade, in addition to achieving success across the various series.
"Individual skill development is the main focus," said Deitz.
"It’s also about getting our players focused on what they're here to achieve, push harder than they've ever pushed before, and maintain that motivation to train every day. We only get this one opportunity to do this period of training and what we do now will determine our success next year.”
He added:
“One area we've got to get right is our strength and conditioning and team fitness. We need fast, athletic and robust cricketers who can play the style of cricket we want, entertain the crowds, put on a massive show and win lots of games, but also stay fit and healthy through a tough period.”
Director of Cricket, Miles Bascombe, spoke to the alignment of the camp to CWI’s long-term development focus:
“This is an example of the intentional investment being made in high-performance across all levels of West Indies cricket. The aim is to take a very individual approach to player development, providing each player with specific support in the areas that would allow them to take their game to the next level."
"Whether it be skill development, strength and conditioning or mental and leadership skills, this camp reflects our long-term objective of building a sustainable pathway to success. Initiatives like this reinforce our commitment to developing world-class cricketers capable of excelling on the global stage.”
The camp is slated to conclude the week of 8 December, with the players returning to their respective territories ahead of the Christmas period.