Merissa Aguilleira

Merissa Ria Aguilleira (born 14 December 1985) is a Trinidian sportswoman. She is a right-handed wicket-keeper batsman. She played for West Indies women's cricket team as well as for Trinidad and Tobago women's cricket team.[1] In April 2019, Aguilleira retired from international cricket.[2]

Merissa Aguilleira
Merissa Aguilleira in 2009
Personal information
Full nameMerissa Ria Aguilleira
Born (1985-12-14) 14 December 1985
Trinidad
BattingRight-handed
RoleWicket-keeper
International information
National side
ODI debut8 July 2008 v Netherlands
Last ODI22 September 2018 v South Africa
ODI shirt no.7
T20I debut11 June 2009 v South Africa
Last T20I3 February 2019 v Pakistan
T20I shirt no.7
Career statistics
Competition ODI T20I
Matches 100 81
Runs scored 1,574 625
Batting average 19.67 13.58
100s/50s 0/6 0/0
Top score 71 39*
Catches/stumpings 70/20 28/25
Source: ESPNcricinfo, 3 February 2019

Career

In 2007, she was named captain of Trinidad and Tobago. Another role Merissa has is as the Sports Ambassador for Atlantic LNG.[3]

Aguillera captained the West Indies in the 2009 Women's Cricket World Cup. A wicket keeper and top order batsman, she has played 15 One Day Internationals since making her début against the Netherlands in 2008.

In 2011, in Bangladesh, Aguilleira, along with the rest of the West Indies team, won (ICC Women’s World Cup Qualifier) four-nation tournament. She and her team also played in the 50-over World Cup Final in 2013. They played against Australia and were defeated. Earlier in Merissa’s life, she went to Moruga Composite School where she played windball cricket.

In 2015 Aguilleira was removed as captain when Pakistan women's cricket team toured West Indies, three days before they were announced as a new team. Jamaican’s Stafanie Taylor replaced her.[4]

Aguilleira was captain of the West Indies from 2007-2015. While she was captain she took the team to the finals of the 2013 Women's Cricket World Cup and took the team to the semi-finals the last three Twenty20 World Cups.[5]

Aguilleira along with reserve players are a part of a squad that is currently in a training camp at the West Indies High Performance Centre in Barbados.[6] On 17 February 2013 West Indies were defeated by Australia by 114 runs in the finals. This was the ICC Women’s world cup at Barbourne Stadium.[7] Also in 2013 Merissa Aguilleira was a nominee for Sportswoman of the Year at First Citizens Sports Foundation Awards ceremony, this was held at Queen's Hall.[8]

In 2016 Merissa Aguilleira and the rest of the West Indies defeated New Zealand. This was in the semi finals in the Women's ICC World Twenty20 in Mumbai, India.[9]

She holds the record for playing the most number of WT20I matches as captain who also has kept wicket(62 matches)[10]

In October 2018, Cricket West Indies (CWI) awarded her a women's contract for the 2018–19 season.[11][12] Later the same month, she was named in the West Indies' squad for the 2018 ICC Women's World Twenty20 tournament in the West Indies.[13][14]

Outside of cricket

In 2002, alongside the Trinidad and Tobago Under-23’s, Merissa played hardball cricket. Aguilleira is a part of the annual book drive in her community of Moruga. Doing this she partnered with Atlantic to help support the students in her community.[15]

References
  1. "Merissa Aguilleira". espncricinfo.
  2. "Former West Indies captain Merissa Aguilleira retires from international cricket". International Cricket Council. Retrieved 24 April 2019.
  3. "Meet the Caribbean's Cricket Queen: Melissa Aguilleira". Paradise Pulse.
  4. "Aguilleira sacked, reinstated". Guardian.
  5. "Jamaican Taylor replaces Aguilleira as Windies Women's skipper". Jamaica Bserver.
  6. "Windies women are capable". Guyana Cricket Board.
  7. Gopalkrishnan, Krithika (17 February 2013). "Australia beat West Indies to win ICC Women's World Cup". dna.
  8. "21 Questions with Melissa Aguilleira". Trinidad Express Newspapers. 24 March 2013.
  9. Kruger, Jan. "Merissa Aguilleira Pictures and Photos". gettyimages.
  10. "Records | Women's Twenty20 Internationals | Individual records (captains, players, umpires) | Captains who have kept wicket | ESPN Cricinfo". Cricinfo. Retrieved 5 June 2017.
  11. "Kemar Roach gets all-format West Indies contract". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 2 October 2018.
  12. "Cricket West Indies announces list of contracted players". International Cricket Council. Retrieved 2 October 2018.
  13. "Windies Women Squad for ICC Women's World T20 Announced". Cricket West Indies. Retrieved 10 October 2018.
  14. "Windies Women: Champions & hosts reveal World T20 squad". International Cricket Council. Retrieved 10 October 2018.
  15. "Merissa Aguilleria". Atlantic.
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