Only a glimpse of greatness shown by Guyana ladies

─ Finished in 4th position in both tournaments

By Brandon Corlette

The Cricket West Indies (CWI) Regional Women’s tournaments took place in Guyana, and Barbados reigned supreme in both the Super50 and T20 Blaze tournaments. Team Guyana failed to capitalise on home conditions, and finished in fourth position in both tournaments.

In the Super50, Guyana finished with 10 points behind Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica. The T20 Blaze tournament saw Guyana finish with 9 points behind the same teams. However, Guyana won three matches in the T20 tournament, in contrast with two wins in the Super50.
The monumental win was against Jamaica.
Guyana, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago finished the T20 Blaze with 9 points each, but net-run rate favoured the other teams.

Erva Giddings was the standout performer in both tournaments, along with Guyana’s captain Shemaine Campbelle, who led the batting charts in both tournaments. From the Super50 tournament, Campbelle scored 211 runs in five matches, while she amassed 165 runs in the five T20 Blaze matches.
Campbelle’s 165 runs came at an average of 41.25, striking at 102.48 with a high score of 77*, as she looked a class apart from her Guyanese team mates with the bat. Her fellow Berbician, Giddings, was the best fast bowler in the Caribbean, topping the fast-bowlers’ charts with 10 wickets.
In the T20 Blaze tournament, Tremayne Smartt was the only other batter to surpass 100+ runs in the tournament. Known for her impressive fast bowling, Smartt proved her prowess with the bat by scoring 128 runs in the T20 Blaze, opening the batting and averaged 25.60, with a high score of 44.
Sheneta Grimmond followed in the Guyanese batting charts in the T20 Blaze tournaments with 63 runs at a poor average of 12.60 for any batswoman at the top of the order. Cherry Ann Fraser, who floated in the middle-lower order, scored 53 runs, while her fellow under-19 player Shabika Gajnabi scored 46 runs.

One of the many players with a poor tournament, Melanie Henry, had only 28 runs in four innings. Akaze Thompson, who scored a century in the inter-county, struggled with the bat in the Regional tournament, scoring only 23 runs in five innings.
Giddings showed why she deserves another chance at Windies level. She followed up her 10 wickets in the Super50 with another 10 scalp, and had ‘player of the match’ performances in Guyana’s wins. The left-arm seamer Giddings had an unbelievable bowling average of 7.9 and a brilliant economy rate of 4.65.
Sheneta Grimmond got the important breakthrough on various occasions. She finished with 7 wickets at an average of 12.43 and a good economy rate of 4.83 in the T20 Blaze. Akaze Thompson, who bowls right arm medium, had six wickets at a bowling average of 13.67 and an economy rate of 5.53. Plaffiana Millington (4) and Mandy Mangru (3) rounded off the bowling department for the Guyanese in the T20 Blaze tournaments.
These tournaments that were played would assist in selecting players to play in the International Cricket Council (ICC) Women’s championships. Windies women will play Ireland Women in May, then they will play England Women in June, 2019.