Dottin’s brilliance, Knights’ resistance completes B’dos title defence

Colonial Medical Insurance Women’s Super50 Cup…

Story and photos by Brandon Corlette

Led by the destructive Deandra Dottin, who smashed 73 and grabbed 6-43, Barbados regained their Super50 title in defeating Trinidad and Tobago by 28 runs at the Enmore Community Centre Ground on the Demerara East Coast.
Kycia Knight and Kyshona Knight contributed 133 runs, scoring contrasting half-centuries that revived the Barbados total to a respectable 242-7.
The Trinidad reply fell short, finishing with 214 all out.

Having won the toss, Trinidad and Tobago captain Merissa Aguilleira elected to field first. The ladies in red got off to the perfect start, removing the dangerous Hayley Matthews with the fifth ball bowled, when she played a swipe and was bowled by Anisa Mohammed for a duck.
The Enmore pitch has been one of the slowest wickets, which suits spinners; it was the perfect scenario for the Trinidad spin attack.

The struggling Barbados opener Danielle Small fell for a duck when she was bowled through bat and pad by Karishma Ramharack in the second over.
In came the Knight twin sisters, who dealt with the spin treat from Trinidad by adding 133 runs for the third wicket partnership. Kycia, the wicket-keeper was the more fearless of the two, playing her shots with elegance. Kycia reached her half-century with a well-timed boundary through mid-wicket — a splendid innings of 77 from 88 balls, which lasted for 125 minutes and was decorated with eight boundaries.

After Kycia Knight was out, caught by Lee Ann Kirby off the bowling of Ramharack, Deandra Dottin came to the crease with the score at 133-5, partnering Kyshona Knight who reached her half-century in the process. Knight’s innings of 56 lasted for 135 minutes and came from 135 balls as she anchored the Barbadian innings after she was given an opportunity on 39 in a mis-stumping.
At 151-4, Dottin found a supportive partner in Charlene Taitt, and the pair added 86 from 56 balls. Dottin, the tournament’s most consistent batter, took a liking to the bowling of Windies spin queen Anisa Mohammed, smashing her for 15 runs in an over that contained two sixes in three balls.
She also dispatched off-spinner Karishma Ramharack for 15 runs, and took 18 runs off a Lee Ann Kirby over. This dominant force hit six gigantic sixes on the leg-side, and was dismissed for the first time in the tournament when her innings came to an end with some brilliance by Britney Cooper in the deep, completing the catch diving forward.
Batting for only 44 minutes, Dottin smashed 73 runs from 43 balls, timing three fours and smoking six sixes. That innings meant Dottin finished the Super50 tournament with 299 runs.
The Barbadians were happy with 242-7, after losing two wickets without a run on the board at the inception of their innings.
Bowling for Trinidad and Tobago, Karishma Ramharack had 4-37 in 10 overs, taking her tournament’s tally to 13 wickets. Anisa Mohammed had 2-45 sharing the new-ball with Ramharack.
In Trinidad’s chase, the openers lay the perfect platform, adding 50 runs for the opening partnership.
Rachel Vincent was the first to be dismissed, out caught and bowled for 10 by the tournament’s leading wicket-taker Hayley Matthews, who pulled off a blinder. Felicia Walters then fell for a well-made 27, as Trinidad were restricted to 79-2 in 23 overs.
Stacy Ann King and Britney Cooper added a promising 44 runs for the third wicket; but King was given out leg before for 38, after which Cooper (23) became Matthews’s 17th wicket of the tournament.
Then captain Merissa Aguilleira came to the crease, and played positive cricket with her vice-captain Reniece Boyce. Aguilleira scored 32 from 31 balls, which included four sweetly timed boundaries.
That was the opening of the floodgates for Deandra Dottin, who picked up three wickets in her seventh over. Dottin, the world’s number one T20 all-rounder, was in top form, but Trinidad’s most consistent batter, Boyce, was standing between Barbados and an early victory.
At 193-8, the Trinidadians lost hope when Dottin proverbially rubbed salt in their wounds by finishing with six wickets, bowling Boyce for a top-score of 39.
The last six Trinidad wickets fell for 32 runs, and the ecstatic Bajans roared in delight when the ladies in red fell for 214 all out in 47.5 overs.
Bowling for the Barbados unit, Dottin had 6-43 in 8.5 overs, while Hayley Matthews had 2-31 in 10 overs, bowling two maidens.
Speaking after the match, Captain Hayley Matthews said the Barbados team are confident of taking this form into the T20 tournament. “I think the girls played well and give it their all,” she declared.
Matthews lauded Dottin for her brilliance with both bat and ball, since she had to overcome a shoulder injury prior to the tournament.
Meanwhile Dottin, who won her third ‘Player of the Match’ award, declared that this win meant a lot to her. She added that bowling straight was her aim during her six-wicket haul. In closing her remarks, she declared that Barbados would continue to play fearless cricket.