Captain of the Windward Islands Women Zaida James was ecstatic with her team’s start to the 2025 CG United Women’s Super50 Cup.

The Windwards secured a dominant eight-wicket win over the Leeward Islands Women at St. Paul’s Sports Complex.

They dismissed the Leewards for 93 in 28 overs after winning the toss and needed only 13.5 overs to reach 94-2.

“It was a great start for us in the tournament. I think we had a very good day with the bat and the ball,” James said during a media interaction on Tuesday.

West Indies veteran leg-spinner Afy Fletcher was the star of the day with the ball with 5-15 from seven overs while Jannillea Glasgow, who recently made her ODI debut for the West Indies against Bangladesh, made 55* off just 44 balls to lead the successful chase.

“Credit goes out to Afy Fletcher for her five-wicket haul and Glasgow for her half-century and finishing the game,” James said.

Interestingly, the Windwards were without St. Lucian West Indies opener Qiana Joseph, who has opted to represent the Leewards going forward.

She made 13 from 15 balls and bowled one over for ten runs against her former team.

James noted that her loss was sad but it simply means others will have to step up to fill the role she played.

“Qiana is obviously a huge loss but it helps us as players to step up in our game. It was sad to know that she’s leaving but it has allowed those youngsters coming up like myself and Glasgow, it means that we have to step up our game. It’s really on us to try to lead the Windward Islands to winning games,” she said.

“We didn’t have her yesterday and we won so it shows that, even though she did bring a lot to Windwards cricket, we have a lot of experienced players and growth in our team,” James added.

She will hope to continue their winning ways when they take on Barbados at Warner Park.