Sports
Windies Players Shine in Women’s T20 Final
BY KAYLA KARIM
The Women’s T20 Challenge hosted by the Board of Control for Cricket in India began on May 6th, 2019 at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur.
A few familiar faces from the West Indies squad are participating in the tournament such as Stafanie Taylor, Hayley Matthews and Shakera Selman who have joined their international counterparts.
India is a special place for the women of the West Indies team as they won their first ever ICC Women’s World T20 title there back in 2016.
Jimmy Adams, Cricket West Indies Director, congratulated the women on their selection.
“We’re delighted that Stafanie, Shakera, and Hayley have the chance to experience this tournament and showcase West Indies women’s cricket talent at the same time. It’s unfortunate that Deandra Dottin was not able to participate due to injury. We’ll be watching out for the performances and welcome this initiative from the BCCI.”
Taylor of Jamaica and Selman of Barbados will play for the Trailblazers, captained by Smriti Mandhana. Matthews will play for Velocity, captained by Mithali Raj.
Taylor, who captained the championship team in 2016, is excited about returning to play in India.
“I’ve always enjoyed playing in India but this will be a new experience for me. I’m looking forward to soaking up the atmosphere that I’ve seen in the IPL on TV and I’m hoping that this season will be a catalyst to have an actual women’s IPL.”
She added that she is proud to be one of the three West Indies women chosen to participate and hopes to provide fans with the T20 excitement that they are used to.
Shakera Selman, another player on the Trailblazers, is excited for the opportunity to play alongside her captain Stefanie Taylor as well as other talented international players.
Selman said, “I’m grateful to be afforded the opportunity to take part in the Women’s T20 challenge, as it’s another chance to showcase my talent alongside some of the best female cricketers in the game. And I am hopeful that this challenge will be used to develop a women’s IPL.”
The Trailblazers recently faced Haylet Matthews and Velocity on May 8th, 2019, lost by three wickets in the match. Stafanie Taylor was scratchy during her 18-ball stay and survived a runout chance at the non-striker’s end.
It was the Shafali Verma and Danielle Wyatt show, where they played with aggression for their three-wicket win. Velocity started off well going 111 for 2, and the target being two runs away. However, in seven balls of spin from Rajeshwari Gawykwad and Deepti Sharma, they lost five wickets without scoring a run and Deepti picked up three in five balls.
On Thursday, May 9th, 2019 Velocity played again, against the Supernovas who edged them out beating them by 12 runs going 142 for 3. It was a picture perfect 48-ball 77 not out from Jemimah Rodrigues who took the Supernovas to victory.
Although all three teams finished with a win each, the Trailblazers who were spectators for the match were knocked out due to a lower net run-rate.
The Supernovas and Velocity will meet again in Sunday’s final in Jaipur.