Walsh happy with return of women’s regional tournaments
Head coach of the West Indies women’s side, Courtney Walsh is pleased to see the return of the female T20 Blaze and Super50 tournaments since the pandemic.
In the just concluded tournament held here Barbados women retained their Super50 title while Jamaica women dethroned Barbados in the T20 Blaze competitions.
In an exclusive interview with Stabroek Sport, Walsh stated, “It was just good to get them playing cricket after two years.
“You can’t be too harsh, I don’t know how much cricket they have been playing in the domestic leagues but it was good to come out and see,” he added.
Walsh said while he was hoping to see a bit more talent on show, he was nonetheless glad that the tournament was eventually played.
“Just for them to come out and play cricket I was happy to see them and give us something to see what we have and work from there.”
Although he said that he does not like to single out performances of players, he indicated that there were a couple of players that stood out.
Hayley Matthews, the newly appointed West Indies women’s team captain dominated both tournaments finishing as the leading batter in both tournaments. She scored 187 runs in the Super50 competition and 191 runs in the T20 version.
In the T20, Natasha McLean (130) and her Jamaica captain, Stafanie Taylor (116) as well as Guyana captain, Shemaine Campbelle (108) were the only batters with over 100 runs in the tournament.
Barbados top order twins, Kycia and
Kyshona Knight ended with 164 and 140 runs respectively, and, along with Matthews, were the only batters with over 100 runs in the Super50 competition.
Jamaica’s Chinelle Henry and Vanessa Watts both bagged nine wickets and Alleyne and Matthews copped eight wickets each in the Super50.
Shakira Bruce finished with nine wickets while her Bajan teammate, Aaliyah Alleyne and Guyana’s Kaycia Schultz ended with eight wickets each in the T20 Blaze.