Barbados Women have secured the double after a comfortable 8 wicket win over Leeward Islands saw them capture this year’s Women’s T20 Blaze.
Having recently captured CG Insurance Women’s Super 50 Cup, Barbados bounced back from the opening five wicket defeat to Trinidad to secure the title in convincing fashion by winning their next four matches.
Leeward Islands won the toss and chose to bat, posting 121-5 in their allotted overs with Divya Saxena top scored for them with 33 runs. Pick of the Bajan bowlers was Theanny Herbert-Mayers who took 2-12 in her four overs of off-breaks.
In response, Barbados cruised to the total, reaching 122-2 with 15 balls to spare. Openers Asabi Alleyne and Kycia Knight broke the back of the chase, putting on 80 for the first wicket. Knight in particular showed her international pedigree in her knock of 63* hitting nine boundaries. Despite the quality produced by Amanda Edwards who finished with figures of 2-12, the contest felt like it was over after Barbados’ start.
The match was sealed when a full toss from spinner Jenison Richards agonisingly missed the stumps, went through the legs of wicketkeeper Terize Parker and down to fine leg for two byes.
Speaking about the double victory, Barbados captain Shakera Selman said “I think it (T20 title win) makes a very strong statement. We were expected to win but obviously last year we narrowly missed out in the T20s so this time we are very happy to have taken both. I think we finally saw the seniors stepping. Every game a different senior player put up their hand especially in Hayley’s absence because those are big shoes to fill and I think they did that superbly.” (JC)
Summarised Scores
Leeward Islands 121-5 in 20 overs (Divya Saxena 33, Rozel Liburd 20; Theanny Herbert-Mayers 2-12)
Barbados 122-2 in 17.3 overs (Kycia Knight 63*, Asabi Alleyne 32; Amanda Edwards 2-12)
Barbados won by 8 wickets with 15 balls to spare.
