KINGSTOWN, St Vincent, CMC – Dawnisha Hector and Qiana Joseph played valuable knocks. The Leeward Islands Women earned their first win in the Women’s T20 Blaze by defeating Barbados Women by six wickets on Saturday.
After sending Barbados to bat at the Arnos Vale Playing Field, the Leeward Islands restricted their opponents to 95 for eight from their 20 overs.
Hector then scored 40, while Joseph made 34, to lead their team to 95 for four in 12.3 overs, improving their record to 1-1 while keeping Barbados winless through their first two games.
The Leeward Islands used a balanced bowling attack to restrict Barbados’ batters, who struggled to gain momentum.
Barbados also lost wickets at regular intervals, adding to their woes, slipping from 23 for one to 50 for five in the 14th over.
Naijanni Cumberbatch tried her best to keep the innings together, scoring a patient, unbeaten 22 from 30 balls. Still, she got little support from the other batters, with Kycia Knight needing 24 balls for her 14, while her twin sister Kyshona made 12 from 20 balls to be the next-highest scorer.
Medium pacer Shawnisha Hector (2-15) and off-spinner Davronique Maynard (2-16) were the Leeward Islands’ best bowlers.
The Leeward Islands’ run chase got a horrible start when Shamilia Connell had Melicia Clarke caught and bowled for a duck with one run on the board.
However, her departure brought Hector to the crease, and together with Joseph, they added 77 runs in nine overs to put the Leeward Islands in a dominant position.
Even though they both fell with the score at 78, the damage had already been done, and they coasted to victory with 45 balls remaining.