KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC – World Player-of-the-Year nominee Stafanie Taylor continued her voracious appetite for runs and completed another fine all-round performance to upstage out-of-favour West Indies Women’s teammate Cordel Jack, spurring Jamaica to a 25-run victory over St. Vincent & the Grenadines in the Regional Women’s Twenty20 Tournament yesterday here.
A breezy half-century from Amanda Samaroo trumped a solid all-round performance from Roylin Cooper to lead powerful Trinidad & Tobago batting, setting them up for a crushing, 92-run win over St. Lucia.
Tremayne Smartt outdid them all in the fifth round of matches, leading Guyana to a morale-boosting 87-run victory over Dominica, and Kycia Knight guided Barbados to a comfortable eight-wicket victory over Grenada in a low-scoring match.
The ICC, the sport’s World governing body, announced on Monday that Taylor was the first female player to be nominated alongside men’s stars for the global award.
The Jamaica captain celebrated this achievement, giving clear evidence of her class, when she helped the Jamaicans rebound from a defeat to arch-rivals T&T in the previous round, leading her side past a spunky SVG – led by Jack.
Taylor, dropped twice, proceeded to gather 52 from 47 balls that included just one boundary, anchoring her side to 132 for six from their 20 overs in the afternoon match at Kensington Park.
She was 34, when Jack dropped her at short mid-wicket from the off-spin of Clea Hoyte in the 15th over, and was also fortunate on 45, when she whipped the same bowler to deep mid-wicket, where Crystal John muffed a skier in the 17th over.
Taylor added 40 for the second wicket with fellow West Indies Women’s all-rounder Shanel Daley and put on 55 for the third wicket with Natasha McLean to be the rocks upon which Jamaica built their total.
McLean scored 25, Daley made 16 and Jodiann Morgan chipped in with 15, after the hosts decided to bat. Jack was the pick of her side’s bowlers with 2-21 from her four overs of steady off-spin, and further redeemed herself with a typically robust 63 not out from 55 balls that included seven fours and three sixes, as SVG were restricted to 107 for five from their 20 overs.
Opener Juliana Nero, another Windies Women’s player, supported with 26, but Taylor grabbed 2-11 from her four overs to check SVG’s advance in the middle of the chase and Daley snared 2-19 from four overs to snuff out the late charge led by Jack.
Samaroo had struck five fours in the top score of 54 from 42 balls and West Indies Women’s player Deandra Dottin supported with four boundaries in a typically rapid 38 from 28 balls, as T&T posted the highest total of the tournament of 180 for six from their 20 overs in the morning game at the same venue.
T&T had stumbled to 32 for two after choosing to bat, but Dottin came to the crease and put on 79 for the third wicket with Samaroo, the two players batting with enterprise to hurry the scoring along.
The fun came to an end, when Dottin was caught at square leg off Brendalin Alcide in the 14th over, but Felicia Walters made 22 not out, T&T and West Indies Women’s captain Merissa Aguilleira added 17, and fellow Windies Women’s player Stacy Ann King got 13 to keep the momentum going in the late stages.
Cooper was her side’s most successful bowler with 3-27 from three overs and then anchored her side’s batting with an unbeaten 51 from 63 balls that included four fours.
The St. Lucia captain reached her 50 from 62 balls, when she swung the penultimate ball of the match from King over mid-wicket for her final boundary, as St. Lucia closed on 88 for four from their 20 overs.
Windies Women’s player Smartt grabbed 3-9 from her four overs, as Dominica failed to successfully chase 153 for victory in the second match Chedwin Park.
Erva Giddings grabbed 2-7 from three overs, as Dominica suffered another batting meltdown, keeping them the only winless team in the tournament.
No Dominica batter reached 20 with Pearl Etienne, a West Indies Women’s player, leading the way with 14.
Smartt had put the wheels in motion for a Guyana victory, when she smote seven fours in an unbeaten 70 – the highest score in the tournament so far – from 60 balls.
She added 76 for the fifth wicket with Melanie Henry and 48 – unbroken – with Prudence Williams, reviving Guyana from a shaky 28 for four, after they elected to bat.
Henry scored 31 and Williams made 15, but no Dominica bowler was able to collect more than one wicket, Etienne being their most economical with four overs for 17 including the wicket of opener and West Indies Women’s player Shemaine Campbelle for four.
Knight struck four fours in 32 not out, as Barbados successfully chased 58 for victory in the first match played at the same venue.
She formalised the result with 56 balls remaining, when she drove Rackel Williams through wide mid-off for her final boundary.
Knight put on 45 – unbroken – for the third wicket with Kyshonna, her twin sister, to take Barbados over the threshold. Windies Women’s player Shaquana Quintyne had led a tidy Barbados bowling performance, taking 2-9 from her four overs, as the Grenadians limped to 57 for six off their 20 overs.
No Grenadian batted reached 20, as Debbie Ann Lewis got 15 and their captain Afy Fletcher, a Windies Women’s player, scored 14 and were the only batters to reach double figures.
The tournament continues today, when Grenada face T&T in the morning at Kensington Park, where SVG meet Guyana in the afternoon, while the Jamaicans host Dominica in the morning at Chedwin Park before Barbados play St. Lucia.
