B’dos retain T20 title with a match in hand Guyana beat Leewards for first win

Jun 14, 2022 Sports

CG Insurance T20 Blaze

By Sean Devers

Under lights last night at Providence, Guyana led by a 55-run stand between Shemaine Campbelle and Shabika Gajnabi, registered their first victory when they beat the Leeward Islands by 78 runs in the penultimate round of the CG Insurance Women’s T20Blaze.

Anisa Mohammed

Campbelle faced 30 balls and reached the boundary four times in her 30, while Gajnabi’s unbeaten 32 lasted 23 balls and was decorated with three fours as Guyana reached 122-4.
Amanda Edwards took 2-25 for the Leewards who were dismantled for 47-9 innings closed as no batter reached 12.
Plaffiana Millington (2-5), Kaysia Schultz (3-14) and Ashmini Munisar (2-2) were the wicket takers.
Batting first on a good track and fairly fast outfield Katana Mentore and Lashuna Toussaint took the score to 18 in the fourth over before Mentore, with two fours in her 11,was bowled by Rozel Liburd.

Haley Matthews (CWI)

West Indies batter Sheneta Grimmond joined Toussaint, who struggled to get the ball off the square before her 37-ball 12 was halted when Edwards ended her misery at 37-2 in the 10th over.
Skipper Shemaine Campbelle, who scored 105 against Sri Lanka in 2013, whipped Melicia Clarke behind square for four to post the 50 in the 13th over and celebrated with a boundary off Edwards in the next over.
Grimmond (12) then top-edged a ball from Edwards at 63-3 to bring 21-year-old Shabika Gajnabi to the crease and she got going with an imperious cover driven boundary.
Campbelle pulled Clarke for four as the partnership with her Vice-Captain began to take shape while consecutive boundaries from Gajnabi off Liburd brought up the 100 in the 17th over as Liburd’s over cost 16 runs.
The 50 stand was brought up in the last over before Campbelle edged Shawnisha Hector to the Keeper at 118-4 with two balls left in the innings.
Leewards began their chase in horrendous fashion when Melicia Clarke edged off-spinner Millington, in her first game, after failing to get vaccinated earlier and had to spend time in quarantine during the two games.
Clarke’s demise for a duck left the Leewards on 4-1 in the second over and after Jenison Richards (5) was taken off the field on stretcher, nobody else offered prolonged resistance.
Millington struck again when Mangru held a stupendous left handed catch to dismiss Roselle DolabaIile (5) at 12-2.
Left-arm spinner Schultz took three quick wickets to sink the Leewards to 21-5 before Munisar polished the innings in her first over.
Earlier, defending champions Barbados beat second placed Jamaica by 25 runs to put themselves in an unassailable position to retain the title they won in Guyana in 2019 just before the Pandemic struck in March 2020.
Barbados, who has one more game to play against the Leewards, are on 16 points and the double defending Champions will soon shift their attention to retaining their fourth 50-over title when that format commences on Thursday.
Twenty-four-year old Haley Matthews followed up her unbeaten 41 in the last round with entertaining undefeated 74 from 64 balls with nine fours to help her team to 129-4.
Matthews shared in a 50-run stand with Kycia Knight who reached the boundary twice in her 14.
Kycia’s twin sister, Kyshona (10) was the other batter to reach double figures as Coria Howell had 2-27 for Jamaica who could only manage 104-4 when their 20 overs expired.
This was despite 26 from Chedean Nation, 24 from Chinelle Henry and 18 from Skipper Stefani Taylor. Aaliyah Alleyne captured 2-20.
In the afternoon game, Trinidad and Tobago opted to bat and despite an unbeaten 47 from 41 balls with five fours from Britney Cooper and 19 with three boundaries from Anisa Mohammed, they struggled to 88-8 when their 20 overs expired.
Qiana Joseph captured 3-10 from her four overs, while 39-year-old pacer Pearl Etienne had 2-17 for the Windwards who were restricted to 87 as the ladies from the twin Island Republic won by one run.
After Kimone Homer (11) fell for at 11-1 before Stacy Ann Adams (12) shared in a 25-run with her Skipper Afy Fletcher who made 16, but once the 35-year-old Fletcher was dismissed it was left to Zaida James to carry her team over the line.
The left-hander, with her mom watching from the stands, hit three boundaries in 28 not out in the thrilling finish.
With three to win and two needed for a tie but in going for the second run, which would have resulted in the first Super Over of the tournament, James ran a short run to give T&T a heart breaking one-run win over James and the Windwards.
Mohammed was the pick of the bowlers with 2-16 as the Windwards reached 87-6.
The final day action will see Jamaica playing the Leewards from 10AM, Champions Barbados facing Trinidad & Tobago from 2:30 PM and Guyana facing the Windwards from 7PM under lights.