Sri Lankan star Athapaththu to bolster title defence

ayley Matthews will be joined by even more star power for this year’s Massy Women’s Caribbean Premier League (WCPL). The 26-year-old Barbadian allrounder will lead the Barbados Royalds in their title defence in August, when the third instance of the WCPL bowls off in Trinidad & Tobago.

Final squads were announced on Tuesday 16 July, after the three teams involved in the competition had declared their retentions and new signings, and after the conclusion of the Draft, also held on Tuesday.

Matthews led from the front in lifting the title last year. She ended the season with the second-most runs: 191 in five matches with a strike rate of 132.63. She was also the joint third-highest wicket-taker with seven at an economy rate of 7.44.

A graduate of Harrison College, the dynamic Matthews scored 82 off 59 balls and took two wickets in the final against Guyana Amazon Warriors. The Royals won by eight runs.

Her exploits in the last calendar year led Matthews to being named Wisden’s ICC Women’s T20I Cricketer of the Year. She won eight straight T20I match awards, averaged an eye-popping 88 runs per innings, at a strike-rate of 144, and 12 with the ball.

Now, for the upcoming WCPL, Matthews will be paired with Sri Lanka superstar Chamari Athapaththu, the ICC Women’s ODI Cricketer of the Year. Athapaththu is a top-order batter and offspinner. In 12 T20Is this year, she has scored 371 runs, including 102 against Scotland. Her 13 wickets include a best of 4 for 29 against West Indies last month.

Australia wicketkeeper-batter Georgia Redmayne will also turn out for Royals this year, along with returning legspinner Amanda-Jade Wellington, Australia batter Laura Harris, West Indians Chinelle Henry, Afy Fletcher, Aaliyah Alleyne, and Qiana Joseph.

Wellington was the second highest wicket-taker in the 2023 WCPL with eight in five games at an economy of 4.80.

The reigning champions have also drafted two players who were with their squad in 2023, wicketkeeper Rashada Williams and exciting batter Trishan Holder. They welcome Shabika Gajnabi, Cherry Ann Fraser, and Djenaba Joseph, who were all with the Guyana Amazon Warriors last year. They have also drafted local allrounder Naijanni Cumberbatch.

The Royals will get their 2024 Massy WCPL campaign underway in a finals rematch on 21 August. They will hope to be the last team standing once again when the tournament concludes on 29 August. All seven games will be played at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy, in San Fernando, Trinidad & Tobago.

Elsewhere, hard-hitting former West Indies allrounder Deandra Dottin will lead 2022 champions Trinbago Knight Riders in their title quest. Having announced her retirement from international cricket in 2022, the St James Secondary School graduate has been a fixture of international women’s franchise cricket.

Dottin, who preceded Matthews in making the transition from track and field to cricket, was the first ever women’s cricketer to record a T20I century. Now aged 33, the “World Boss” was still shy of her 19th birthday when she thrashed an unbeaten 112 against South Africa in the opening match of the 2010 ICC Women’s World T20 at Warner Park in Basseterre. St Kitts & Nevis.

She leads a largely veteran squad that includes Barbados’ Knight sisters, Kycia and Kyshona, along with Shamilia Connell, Jahzara Claxton, Zaida James, Jannillea Glasgow, Chedean Nation, Anisa Mohammed, Shunelle Sawh, Samara Ramnath, Meg Lanning, Jess Jonassen, Jemimah Rodrigues, and Shikha Pandey.

Glasgow and Nation were with the Royals in WCPL 2023.

34-year-old Barbadian medium pacer Shakera Selman, previously a member of the Royals, will now link up with former West Indies captain Stafanie Taylor to try to get the Amazon Warriors their maiden title.