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.

According to Sir Viv, a National Hero in his native Antigua, the missed opportunities mean there is now an uphill task for the women in the region to get to the level where they can, again, win world tournaments.

“After we would have had the women’s World Cup and after they would have won we haven’t seen the so-called promises we would had here with the tournament being held her in the Caribbean, and we here in Antigua would have seen the hype about the ladies and where we are going, but I think that has been a letdown,” said Richards.

“We would have dropped a few points in that particular category and that’s one of the negatives that I think in order to try and get that momentum again where we once were because it is not looking good at present, and especially with some of the tournaments we would have seen the girls partake in this year also,” he said.

Recently, Cricket West Indies CEO, Johnny Grave, indicated that his organization would be doing all it could to ensure that the regional tournament for women continued despite the fear of COVID-19 spread in the Caribbean.

The CEO was speaking about the Women’s Super50 Cup as well as the inaugural Regional Under-19 Women’s Championship.

“They are very important tournaments, not just in terms of the preparation but in terms of the preparation for the selection of those respective squads as we look to compete in the World Cups of those events due to take place in the early part of 2021,” said Grave.

The CG United Super50 Cup matches will be played at three venues – Warner Park, the Conaree Cricket Centre, and St. Paul’s Sports Complex from 8 to 17 May with the 50 over matches starting at 10am local time. 

The T20 Blaze will feature five full days of entertainment for the fans from 20 to 27 May at Warner Park. There will be three matches per day – starting at 10am, 2:30 pm and 7 pm (under lights). 

Barbados are defending champions in the CG United Super50 Cup and Jamaica the defending champions of the T20 Blaze. The other teams are the newly renamed Trinidad & Tobago Divas, Guyana, Windward Islands and hosts Leeward Islands.

The Tournament comes on the cusp of CWI’s announcement to start a new Women’s Academy in July for the best U23 players in the region. ​ This will be a major boost for the development of Women’s Cricket in the West Indies and forms part of the overall strategic plan to commit more resources to improving the women’s game at all levels.

CWI’s Director of cricket, Jimmy Adams said, "This year's CG United Super50 Cup and T20 Blaze will be a great opportunity for both talent identification and player development. We look forward to watching a healthy mix of experienced players along with some of the exciting talent we saw in last year's U19 competition. With international tours at home to Ireland and away to Australia this year, these regional tournaments will provide players a chance to fight for places."

Matches will be streamed LIVE on the Windies Cricket YouTube channel with live scorecards and ball-by-ball scoring on the Windiescricket.com live match centre.

FULL MATCH SCHEDULE

CG United Super50 Cup – play starts at 10am

Round 1: Monday 8 May

Windward Islands vs Guyana – Conaree Cricket Centre

Leeward Islands vs Jamaica – St. Paul’s Sports Complex

Trinidad & Tobago Divas vs Barbados – Warner Park

Round 2: Wednesday 10 May

Jamaica vs Trinidad & Tobago Divas – St. Paul’s Sports Complex

Guyana vs Barbados – Conaree Cricket Centre

Windward Islands vs Leeward Islands – Warner Park

Round 3: Friday 12 May

Trinidad & Tobago Divas vs Windward Islands – St. Paul’s Sports Complex

Jamaica vs Barbados – Conaree Cricket Centre

Guyana vs Leeward Islands – Warner Park

Round 4: Monday 15 May

Jamaica vs Guyana – Warner Park

Leeward Islands vs Trinidad & Tobago Divas – Conaree Cricket Centre

Barbados vs Windward Islands – St. Paul’s Sports Complex

Round 5: Wednesday 17 May

Leeward Islands vs Barbados – Warner Park

Trinidad & Tobago Divas vs Guyana – St. Paul’s Sporting Complex

Jamaica vs Windward Islands – Conaree Cricket Centre

CWI T20 Blaze (all matches played at Warner Park)

Round 1: Saturday 20 May

Windward Islands vs Guyana – 10am

Leeward Islands vs Jamaica – 2:30:pm

Trinidad & Tobago Divas vs Barbados – 7pm

Round 2: Sunday 21 May

Windward Islands vs Leeward Islands – 10am

Guyana vs Barbados – 2:30pm

Jamaica vs Trinidad & Tobago Divas – 7pm

Round 3: Tuesday 23 May

Trinidad & Tobago Divas vs Windward Islands – 10am

Jamaica vs Barbados – 2:30pm

Guyana vs Leeward Islands – 7pm

Round 4: Thursday 25 May

Jamaica vs Guyana – 10am

Leeward Islands vs Trinidad & Tobago Divas – 2:30pm

Barbados vs Windward Islands – 7pm

Round 5: Saturday 27 May

Leeward Islands vs Barbados – 10am

Trinidad & Tobago Divas vs Guyana – 2:30pm

Jamaica vs Windward Islands – 7pm