TEAMS SET TO FACE OFF IN T20s
Zaida James’ impressive half-century carried St. Lucia to the 2023 Windward Islands Senior Women 50-overs Cricket Tournament title following a nine-wicket victory over Dominica at the Daren Sammy Cricket Ground yesterday (April 12).
Coming in after the early dismissal of the in-form Namiah Marcellin, James with eight fours and one six in her 48-ball knock of 51, produced an attacking innings that saw her dominate the 84-run unbroken second-wicket partnership with skipper Malika Edward, who ended on 24 from 38 balls with three fours and one six.
James, who survived chances from consecutive deliveries from right-am off-spinner, Amiah Gilbert, towards the end of her innings, was always going to be pivotal in St. Lucia’s chase and her dominance against the three spinners used by Dominica, ensured an early finish to the encounter.
Earlier, after winning the toss, Dominica decided to bat, but a disastrous innings saw them being all out for 91 in 35.2 overs. There were two Run Outs by the time the innings was in its 7th over, and Dominica virtually never recovered from indecisive running between the wickets. There was to be two more Run Outs including that of Abini St. Jean (13), who supported skipper Pearl Etienne (43 from 89 balls) in a fourth-wicket stand of 36 that soaked up 71 deliveries. No other batter came close to double figures.
Dominica found runs difficult to come by against left-arm spinners, Zaida James and Qiana Joseph, who bowled in tandem and leaked just 41 runs from their combined 20 overs, with each picking up a wicket.
Medium pacer, Nesha Alexander, bowling for the first time in the tournament, was St. Lucia’s most successful bowler with 2 for 6 from her three overs.
Final Scores:
Dominica Senior Women 91 all out in 35.2 overs.
St. Lucia Senior Women 92 for 1 in 14.3 overs.
Over at the Gros Islet Playing Field, St Vincent & The Grenadines ended the Super 50 leg of the tournament in second position when they defeated Grenada by 101 runs.
Taking first knock after winning the toss, St. Vincent & The Grenadines were bowled out for 228 in 41.4 overs. Kimone Homer, who opened the innings with Japhina Joseph, top-scored with a boundary-filled 75 that contained fourteen fours and one six while facing 71 balls. She shared partnerships of 63 with Cordel Jack (14) for the second-wicket, and 67 with Nyasha Durrant (21) for the fifth-wicket before she was dismissed in the 27th over with the total on 157.
Late contributions from Jenna Frederick (26 from 52), Schey-Ann Gaymes (10 from 16), and Annica Westfield (19 from 25) together with the assistance of 52 Extras gave the innings some much needed respectability.
For Grenada, captain, Afy Fletcher, who was unavailable for the first two matches, picked up 3 for 23 from her 10 overs. The other wicket-takers were Taylor Dickson 3 for 54, Dellisha Francois 2 for 38 and Carena Noel 1 for 37.
Grenada’s reply started off strongly with an opening stand of 83 between Anisha Thomas (37) and Rachael Francis (37) before off-spinner Cordel Jack turned things around. Jack, who already had a five-wicket haul at that venue against Dominica, seemed to have fallen in love with that pitch and her 6 for 28 from 8.3 overs caused Grenada to collapse dramatically from 122 for 3 to 127 all out. The only other batter to get into double figures was Afy Fletcher, who made 22. The other wicket-taker for St. Vincent & The Grenadines was Jannellia Glasgow, who finished with 2 for 25.
Final Scores:
St. Vincent & The Grenadines Senior Women 228 all out in 41.4 overs.
Grenada Senior Women 127 all out in 25.3 overs.
T20 Segment
The teams will be at the DSCG for what promises to be two days of exciting T20 cricket.
Thursday April 13
1 pm – St. Lucia vs Dominica
5 pm – SVG vs Grenada
Friday April 14
1 pm – 3rd place playoff
5 pm – Final
