CWI’s T20 Blaze tourney in review: A lot more work still needed for upward mobility of Caribbean Women’s cricket

…Matthews, Bruce and Schultz are leading players

By Brandon Corlette

A total of six teams battled at the Guyana National Stadium at Providence, EBD for five rounds in the Cricket West Indies Women’s T20 Blaze tournament. Jamaica and Barbados finished with 16 points each, but Jamaica won the tournament with a better net run rate, despite losing to Barbados in the head-to-head match.

While the surface at Providence was on the slower side, the level of Women’s cricket is still not up to the best of standards. Only four batters scored more than 100 runs in the five-round tournament. The batting performance has reflected on the level of cricket being played.
Hayley Matthews was the best batter with 191 runs in five matches, scored at an average of 95.5. Natasha McLean, who scored 83 in the fifth round for Jamaica, ended with 130 runs at an average of 26. Captain Stafanie Taylor made 116 runs at an average of 23, and Guyana captain Shemaine Campbelle made 108 runs at an average of 36.
Speaking from first-hand experience in Guyana, a lot more focus should be given to female cricket. This must be so from getting more players involved at the grassroots level in schools, to selecting these players to play more local tournaments at the club level, and to introducing a franchise system. Women cricketers must be training collectively regularly, and academy contracts should be awarded to national players, and even prospective national players.
In Guyana, female cricketers play an inter-county tournament that is dominated by Berbice year after year. Berbice is the only county that focuses more on female cricket, the collective effort countrywide is lacking.
The female cricketers are encamped when the tournament is close, therefore the team preparation is insufficient.
In the bowling department during the T20 Blaze tournament, Barbados seamer Shanika Bruce claimed nine wickets in five innings. Bruce, who never played for West Indies at the senior level, looked promising while bowling the new-ball for Barbados. She had a best bowling figure of 3-13 at an average of 8.66. Her economy rate was 3.90.
Guyanese left-arm spinner Kaysia Schultz claimed eight wickets in four innings. She had a best bowling figure of 3-13, at an average of 6.87, the best in the tournament. Her economy rate of 3.92 came with a strike-rate of 10.5.
Another young Barbadian seamer, Aaliyah Alleyne, had eight wickets as well. Forty-year-old Pearl Etienne had seven wickets, while Shakera Selman and Corraine Howell had seven wickets as well.
West Indies are currently ranked number six in the world in both Women’s One Day Internationals and Women’s T20 Internationals. The Women’s Super50 tournament is expected to start on Thursday June 16, but the weather conditions in Guyana are still uncertain. Based on reports, that Super50 tournament will be played at the Guyana National Stadium at Providence.