Three bowlers, including Barbadian teenaged offspinner Erin Deane, took five wicket hauls on the final day of the Women’s T20 Blaze on Monday.
Deane’s five for 14 from four overs spurred Barbados Women to their second win, edging Trinidad & Tobago by 13 runs in a low-scoring encounter to bring a thrilling climax to the tournament, held exclusively at St. Kitts’ Warner Park Stadium in Basseterre.
Barbados won the toss and suffered a cataclysmic collapse to lose their last five wickets in the space of 10 balls for four runs to be dismissed for 96 with one ball remaining in the final over.
Slow left arm spinner Steffie Soogrim was the main destroyer, returning remarkable bowling figures of five wickets for eight runs off four overs.
Middle order batters Kyshona Knight and Aaliyah Alleyne once again came to the fore for the Bajan lasses after the customary early loss of wickets that rendered them 16 for three in the first five overs.
The pair posted 42 for the third wicket before Under-19 player Asabi Callender struck a couple of powerful blows in 15 off 18 balls, out of a 27-run partnership with Alleyne.
The rot set in for Barbados when Callender, looking to launch Soogrim over the boundary, holed out to long on.
Deane, batting at number 11, was the only contributor with a single of the rest of the batting, leaving all-rounder Alisa Scantlebury five not out.
Trinidad & Tobago got off to a solid start, with experienced campaigner Lee Ann Kirby, dominating an opening stand of 40 with the promising Djenaba Joseph before they were parted, the former beaten and bowled by leg-spinner Keila Elliott for 30.
Deane, who like Callender and all-rounder Naijanni Cumberbatch will stay on in St Kitts for a CWI training camp for Under-19 players, clean bowled Britney Cooper with only her third ball.
At 64 for three with still seven wickets intact and only 32 runs required, the game was still very much in the Trinidadians’ favor, but seamer Alison Gordon inflicted a double blow in her fourth over to put a dent in the chase.
By the time Deane, who was adjudged Player-of-the-Match, completed her third over, the match had been spectacularly transformed. Three wickets, including that of Joseph who had gathered 24 with three boundaries, toppled in the next four balls to make the score 72 for eight.
Deane, playing in her first senior regional Women’s competition registered her maiden five wicket return in her fourth and final over to put the Bajans on the brink of a sterling, come from behind triumph, which was completed with a run out after the first ball of the 19th over.
Gordon, 2 for 12 and Elliott, 2 for 16 assisted in the rout that ensured that Barbados, with eight points, finished in fifth place, ahead of only Windwards who got four.
Jamaica, who had earlier taken the Super 50 title completed a clean sweep, playing unbeaten in the T20’s, to be double crown champions of 2024.
(GH)
