GAW Women miss out on CPL final after loss to Royals

The Guyana Amazon Warriors Women narrowly missed out on a spot in today’s Massy Women’s Caribbean Premier League (CPL) final when they lost a match against the Barbados Royals by 4 wickets.
Quiana Joseph of the Royals was the star of the show, as she waited out a tight bowling attack from the Amazon Warriors Women, and, with a late flurry at the end, got the Royals over the line with one over to spare.

The Royals were proverbially right on the money from the beginning of the match when they won the toss and opted to bat first. However, slow batting again plagued the GAW Women. Batting at almost a run a ball, the first-wicket partnership between Rashada Williams and Chamari Athapaththu was broken by the Royals’ Fatima Sana.
Athapaththu’s knock of 19 runs from 18 balls, which included three 4s, coupled with Williams’s innings of 17 runs from 29 balls, wasn’t the start the GAW Women had hoped for in this must-win match.

Captain Stafanie Taylor remained the Warriors’ tower of strength, seeing yet another innings through to the end while remaining unbeaten. Shemaine Campbelle joined forces with Taylor, and together they got the Warriors all the way to the 17th over, when things unfortunately fell apart.
The Royals’ stand-out bowler Shakera Selman was responsible for sending Campbelle back to the dugout after her innings of 16 from 25 balls. Chedean Nation hit one boundary in her 11 from 13, before being caught by Aaliyah Alleyne off Chinelle Henry’s bowling in the 19th over.

The final over of the Warriors’ innings must have been a nightmare for Taylor, as she watched batter after batter tumble without much troubling of the score. First Rachel Vincent was run out as she and Taylor attempted a second run; then, immediately thereafter, Shabika Gajnabi fell in identical fashion; and after getting in a single in the fourth delivery, Cherry-Ann Fraser was out LBW in the fifth ball to bring an anticlimactic end to the Warriors’ innings.
While Shakera Selman picked up 2 wickets for 16 runs from 4 overs, Fatima Sana picked up two wickets for 27 runs in her 4 overs.
And just as the Barbados Royals began to free their arms, back-to-back wickets from Gajnabi put the Warriors back in the contest. Both Alleyne and Britney Cooper succumbed to Gajnabi’s bowling in the 6th over, for 10 and 0 runs respectively.
However, Chloe Tryon and Captain Hayley Matthews refused to back down, as they kept the scoreboard ticking for the Royals.
Attempting another big shot, Matthews found herself caught by Taylor off Connell’s bowling in the 10th over.

Matthews hit 22 from as many balls, inclusive of two boundaries. Soon after, Tryon was also sent back to the dressing room for 19 runs; and Henry didn’t last much longer, as a turnaround looked apparent for the female Warriors.
It was then that Joseph went bang-bang off Karishman Ramharack’s bowling to tame the required score. Joseph did not look back, as she smashed 30 runs from 19 balls, consisting of one 4 and two 6s, to get her team over the line in the final ball of the 19th over.

Warriors’ bowlers Connell and Ayabonga Khaka had commendable returns, Connell going for 9 runs in her 4 overs that produced two wickets, and Khaka reaping a wicket for 11 runs from her 4 overs. Gajnabi also had a good outing with the ball, bowling 2-19 from her three, inclusive of one maiden over.
As a result of this victory, the Barbados Royals will battle the Trinbago Knight Riders in the Women’s CPL final today, beginning at 3pm at Warner Park in St. Kitts and Nevis.