Jamaica stumble at Barbados hurdle in CWI T20 Blaze
Jamaica’s Women failed to make it a hat-trick of wins in this year’s Cricket West Indies T20 Blaze after they suffered a nine-wicket loss to Barbados Women in their thirdround clash in St Kitts yesterday.
The defending champions stumbled with the bat after being asked to take first strike. They could only get to 98 for four in their allotted 20 overs. Barbados then eased to 102 for one in 16.5 overs to secure their second win of the campaign.
The Jamaicans got off to a decent start through openers Rashada Williams and Keneshia Ferron, who put on 34 runs in 5.5 overs, before Williams fell to seamer Allison Gordon for 19 from 23 balls which included four fours.
Two runs later Ferron went leg before wicket to leg spinner Kelia Elliott for 13, and those wickets put a skid on the Jamaican team’s momentum.
Captain Stafanie Taylor and Natasha McLean tried to up the tempo with a 15-run third-wicket partnership but McLean fell for just six runs with the score on 51 in the 11th over.
Taylor would, however, find a useful partner in Chedean Nation and they added a valuable 38 runs for the fourth wicket before Nation was bowled by Elliot for 11.
Taylor tried to take most of the strike as the overs ran out and she was able to get an unbeaten 34 from 43 balls with four fours, as Jamaica limped to 98.
Elliott finished with two wickets for nine runs in her three overs for Barbados, who made the run chase look easy with openers Aaliyah Alleyne and Kycia Knight leading the way.
The pair added 62 runs in just 11 overs before Kycia Knight fell to Nation for 28 runs from 33 balls.
The right-handed Alleyne was the star of the show as she hit the first half-century of the competition, as her unbeaten 55 from as many balls with eight fours saw the Barbadians over the line at 102 for one with 19 balls to spare. Kyshona Knight was left not out on 11.
Player of the match Alleyne was pleased that the Barbados team was able to get the better of the defending champions and keep their title aspirations alive.
“We knew it was a must-win game after losing our first game. Now it’s a must-win situation going forward and I am happy that we came out today and gave 100 per cent,” Alleyne said.