A superb all-round performance from captain by Hayley Matthews led Barbados to a big victory over Windward Islands at St. Paul’s Grounds in the CG United Women’s Super50 Cup.
The world-rated all-rounder took a six-wicket haul, including a hattrick, and made a half-century as the Bajans secured a 73-run victory on Monday. The victory has put the defending champions on course for a third successive title.
Sent into bat first, Barbados posted 228-6 from their 50 overs. Matthews notched her second half century of the tournament to top-score with 64 off 74 balls, which included five fours and a six, while Kyshona Knight continued her good form with 55 from 82 balls and Aaliyah Alleyne added 47.
Matthews and Knight shared in an 89-run partnership for the second wicket. Zaida James was the pick of the Windwards bowlers, finishing with figures of 10-1-38-2.
Afy Fletcher led the Windwards run-chase with a captain’s knock of 43 from 36 deliveries. She shared a 44-run second wicket partnership with Zaida James but it was the 37-run ninth wicket partnership between Pearl Etienne and Nerissa Crafton that gave Windwards hope.
Matthews took her best List A figures of 10-2-28-6, as she ran through the Windwards batting order.
Windwards were all out for 155 in 32.2 overs. Fast bowler Shamilia Connell had the next best bowling figures of 3.2-0-18-2.
At Warner Park, Guyana lost seven wickets in their chase of 67 runs in 28 overs to defeat Jamaica by three wickets via the Duckworth/Stern/Lewis method in a rain-affected match.
Jamaica batted first and made 94 in 40.3 overs. Natasha McLean was the top scorer with 31 and Stafanie Taylor scored 15. Plaffiana Millington was the best Guyanese bowler with figures of 10-5-21-3 followed by Ashmini Munisar with 6-0-15-2.
The rains came with Guyana on 7-0 after four overs and kept falling for almost three hours, forcing the implementation of the DLS method.
Guyana looked set to cruise to victory but the Jamaica bowlers struck at consistent intervals to cause a spot of panic in the Guyanese camp. But West Indies Under 19 captain Ashmini Munisar showed nerves of steel as she guided her team to victory before the clouds burst again for light rain. Munisar scored 11 not out from 13 deliveries. Celina Whyte was the best Jamaica bowler, with figures of 6-0-14-3 followed by Kate Wilmott with 3-0-15-2.
At Conaree Sports Ground, the day’s third contest between Trinidad and Tobago Red Force Divas and the Leeward Islands had to be abandoned due to rain.
This was not before Djenaba Joseph was able to strike her highest List A score of 90, sharing in an 81-run partnership with skipper Anisa Mohammed to was not out on 45, to take the Red Force Divas to their highest total of the competition, 253-6 from their 50 overs. The rains came during the innings break and never subsided for play to resume, forcing match officials to abandon the match.
Barbados lead the table with 16 points followed by Trinidad & Tobago (10), Windwards (8), Guyana (8), Jamaica (4) and Leewards (2).
The fifth and final round of matches will be played on Wednesday. Jamaica face the Windwards at Conaree; Barbados face hosts Leewards at Warner Park; while Trinidad & Tobago Red Force Divas meet Guyana at St Paul’s.
Ambrose bullish on West Indies’ chances at T20 World Cup
West Indies great and ICC Hall of Famer Curtly Ambrose believes his former team have enough talent to win an unprecedented third ICC Men's T20 World Cup title next month.
While the West Indies are just one of the two sides to have won multiple men’s T20 World Cup titles, the Caribbean team will need to overturn some poor form at recent ICC tournaments, if they are to become the only three-time winner of the event.
The West Indies didn't make it out of the first round of the most recent T20 World Cup in Australia in 2022 and failed to even qualify for last year's ICC Men's Cricket World Cup in India.
But Ambrose thinks the West Indies' fortunes are turning under skipper Rovman Powell and pointed to T20I series successes over powerhouses South Africa, India, and England in the last 14 months as evidence of this.
These returns have the legendary fast bowler confident of a strong showing from the West Indies in the ninth edition of the T20 World Cup, an event they will co-host with the USA.
"We have a very, very good team. As we speak they (West Indies players) are in Antigua at a camp preparing themselves for the start of the T20 World Cup which is a couple of weeks away," Ambrose said while speaking at the launch of the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in New York earlier this week.
"I believe once the guys start playing consistent cricket and smart cricket, I believe we can take the trophy. It is not going to be easy, but we are one of only two nations to have won it twice so we are going to try and make it three. And no other nation has ever won it on home soil, so all that is motivation for the guys to do well and I am hoping they can do it,” he added.
The West Indies are drawn in Group C at the T20 World Cup and face the champions of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup East Asia-Pacific Qualifier Papua New Guinea first up in Guyana on June 2, before their remaining opening round fixtures against Uganda, New Zealand and Afghanistan.
Ambrose expects to see some upsets at this year's edition of the T20 World Cup as he knows every side has plenty of talented players at their disposal.
"I admire a lot of cricketers (at the T20 World Cup) and I am looking forward to them doing well. As a proud Antiguan and being from the West Indies, I want the West Indies to win,” he said.
"It is not going to be easy because in T20 cricket every team has an equal chance of beating any other team and that is just the nature of T20 cricket. It is going to be exciting, but I am going to be rooting for the West Indies,” Ambrose ended.
Pooran stars as LSG condemn Mumbai Indians to last place with 18-run win
Nicholas Pooran starred to help the Lucknow Super Giants close out a disappointing 2024 Indian Premier League season with an 18-run win over the Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Friday.
LSG piled up an imposing 214-6 from their 20 overs after being put in to bat by Mumbai.
Captain KL Rahul scored a 41-ball 55 to cap off an indifferent season with the bat by his standards before Pooran, who has been one of LSG’s standout players this season, scored a brilliant 75 off just 29 balls including five fours and eight sixes.
Marcus Stoinis and Ayush Badoni also had solid contributions of 28 and 22*, respectively.
Nuwan Thushara was the pick of the Mumbai bowlers with 3-28 from his four overs while Piyush Chawla ended with 3-29 from his full quota.
Despite 68 from skipper Rohit Sharma and 62* off just 28 balls from Naman Dhir, Mumbai fell short of their target reaching 196-6 at the end of their 20 overs.
Sharma’s knock at the top of the order lasted 38 balls and included 10 fours and three sixes while Dhir hit four fours and five sixes in his innings.
Ravi Bishnoi and Naveen-ul-Haq took 2-37 and 2-50 in their four over spells.
This win means LSG will end the season sixth with 14 points from as many games while Mumbai, five-time champions, will finish last having recorded only four wins in their 14 games for eight points.
Full scores:
Lucknow Super Giants 214-6 off 20 overs (Nicholas Pooran 75, KL Rahul 55, Nuwan Thushara 3-28, Piyush Chawla 3-29)
Mumbai Indians 196-6 off 20 overs (Rohit Sharma 68, Naman Dhir 62*, Ravi Bishnoi 2-37, Naveen-ul-Haq 2-50)
Eve takes heart from Guyana friendlies; reiterates call for support ahead of tough World Cup qualifiers
Trinidad and Tobago’s Head coach Angus Eve welcomed the outcome of their two-match friendly series against Guyana, but in the same breath, says he is bracing for even tougher assignments when kick off the 2026 World Cup qualifiers next month.
Though pleased that a few local-based players gave him much to think about in their 2-1 and 2-0 win over Jamaal Shabazz’s Guyana outfit, Eve again rued Trinidad and Tobago’s citizenship laws, which he believes puts them at a slight disadvantage against regional opponents, who have the luxury of importing heritage players from elsewhere around the world.
As such, Eve, who used the Guyana fixtures to fine-tune tactics and expose more players to the national team, is hoping to get the necessary support to spur his Soca Warriors on throughout the World Cup qualifying campaign, which gets under way against Grenada on June 5.
“I think when we used to play before, going against Grenada was a foregone conclusion,” Eve said as he reminisced on the twin island republic ‘s dominance in the past.
“But the immigration laws in this country do not help us. We do know Grenada has a lot of players coming back from England. They might not be the quality as those for Jamaica, but we do know they have a lot of those sort of players coming back,” he reasoned during a post-match interview.
Eve and his men will also have St Kitts and Nevis, Costa Rica and The Bahamas to contend with in Group B.
Former Soca Warriors and Manchester United striker Dwight Yorke recently joined the call for a review in the citizenship laws, which states that “A person shall not become a citizen of Trinidad and Tobago, if at the time of his birth – (a) neither of his parents is a citizen of Trinidad and Tobago.” Until such changes are made, both Yorke and Eve believe Trinidad and Tobago will remain on the backfoot when compared to other nations.
“So, we need the 12th man to be on board with us. The guys are going to come out and give everything that they have, so it’s just for the fans to come out and support the team. The 23 players and the TTFA alone can’t qualify. We need support from corporate, the Government, the fans, the normal man in the street, because when the team does qualify, then all of us will be celebrating as a nation. So, we need a national effort to qualify,” Eve stated.
That said, the tactician quickly pointed out that the team still has much to do in terms of their technical and tactical efficiency, particularly those local players who might be included in the final squad.
“I think it could have been a bigger scoreline (against Guyana). We gave some sloppy chances, and we have to alleviate those problems when we play the next team,” Eve declared.
He named midfielders Matthew Woo Ling and Daniel David and veteran striker Kevon “Showtime” Woodley, who scored in both games, among those that impressed against the Jaguars.
“I thought when we put them on in the second half, it changed the game, and we got a little bit more tempo and we got more penetration. So, very happy for these guys. They got the opportunity and I thought that they grasped it with both hands. A number of them gave us some stuff to think about, so there is a lot of positive,” Eve noted.
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