SPORTS
Jonathan Ramnansingh
Defeated BARBADOS Royals captain Hayley Matthews believes her side’s inability to successfully chase down Trinbago Knight Riders’ (TKR) 100-run score in Sunday’s Massy Women’s Caribbean Premier League T20 final is proof that there a lot of work to do for the development of women’s cricket. The region.
However, Matthews believes that hosting the inaugural women’s CPLT20 and 6ixty tournaments is the foundation for greater things to come from the regional cricketers.
In the final, TKR posted a modest 100 runs from 20 overs and defended their total by dismissing the Bajan franchise for just 90 runs, prevailing by ten runs. TKR were crowned the inaugural women’s CPLT20 champions, getting revenge after Barbados Royals beat them in the final of 66.
Matthews, who is also the West Indies captain, was disappointed not to lift the T20 title but said it was a learning experience for her team.
“Whenever we go out there and a team puts 100 runs on the board in a T20 match, we’re definitely looking to get over the line. We weren’t able to do that today, but obviously a lot of lessons can be learned from what happened in today’s game,” Matthews said.
For all of Bajan, their unsuccessful pursuit of the low target means there is still much development work to be done in the region. But Matthews believes tournaments like these are a catalyst to spark needed growth.
“A tournament like this is very healthy for cricket in the Caribbean. It will help many players grow. I think in a final if you can defend a total of 100 runs it shows a lot of growth is needed during our Caribbean game so hopefully tournaments like this can continue to help with that and we can play more games next year .
Matthews was the only player to show some resistance against an in-form TKR bowling attack as she scored 46 runs off 49 balls and also led the bowling taking 3/22.
Trinbago Knight Riders captain Deandra Dottin scored the only half-century in the CPL, and it came in the last match of the tournament. She finished as the top scorer with 100 runs from three matches. Matthews was second in the table with 86 runs from three matches.
No team did better than run the ball throughout the short tournament. The highest total was 114/7, posted by Trinbago Knight Riders against Barbados Royals in the tournament opener.
Cricket West Indies (CWI) CEO Johnny Grave confirmed that plans are underway to make the 2023 editions of these two competitions bigger and better.
Grave said the feedback from players, franchises and commercial partners has been “excellent” and both tournaments were a step in the right direction for the development of women’s cricket in the Caribbean.
“The Massy Women’s CPLT20 and 6ixty tournaments in St Kitts have been fantastic, providing more playing opportunities for our women cricketers and great entertainment for our fans. We are already discussing how we can expand the inaugural events to make them even better for next year and beyond,” he said.
Despite the final being a low-scoring affair as TKR successfully defended 100 runs, Grave said there were many positives from both tournaments that will help the progress and popularity of the new regional tournaments.
Grave believes the future looks bright for women’s cricket.
“More opportunities to play, global TV exposure, more reward for players, DRS, high quality overseas players, good support staff, sponsorship support… all bode very well in my opinion.”
