KINGSTOWN, St Vincent, CMC – Defending champions Trinidad and Tobago will meet hosts St Vincent and the Grenadines in tomorrow’s final of the West Indies Cricket Board’s Women’s 50-Over League, after wrapping up relatively easy semi-final victories here yesterday.
At Arnos Vale Playing Field 1, T&T beat Barbados by 28 runs while the Vincentians defeated Jamaica by 31 runs in a low-scoring encounter at the Arnos Vale Playing Field 2.
Batting first in their game, T&T rattled up 219 for six off 50 overs with Britney Cooper top-scoring with 62 and Stacy-Ann King getting 54.
West Indies batsman Pamela Lavine then stroked a fine 107 with ten fours and a huge six but Barbados still came up short with 191 for five off their 50 overs.
“It was just one of those days … you get a hundred and you lose the match. I tried my best and gave it my all. It feels good to get the century, but sometimes when you don’t win it could be seen as somewhat insignificant,” said the 41-year-old Lavine.
“We played well at various stages in the match. We lost some crucial wickets but we still kept on fighting all the way. We never gave up and that was good to see. They bowled well in the last 10 overs and that left us with too much to do.”
In the other semi-final, SVG managed just 128 off their 50 overs but hit back to rout favourites Jamaica for a paltry 97.
Left-hander Shanel Daley slammed 36 for Jamaica but failed to get support, with Karla Cohen’s 21 being the next best score.
Samantha Lynch was the main destroyer with three for 12 while Cordell Jack (2-16) and Sheree-Ann John (2-18) finished with two apiece.
John made the key breakthrough when she prised out the key figure of West Indies batsman Stafanie Taylor for 14 as the visitors slipped to 52 for six at one stage.
Earlier, John top-scored with an unbeaten 24 in a Player-of-the-Match performance while Chadean Nation (3-16), Vanessa Watts (3-27) and Shanel Daley (2-15) were the leading wicket-takers for Jamaica.
“Sheree-Ann deserves a lot of credit. She is having a really good tournament, and today she batted really well and bowled a good spell,” Jack said.
“We lost some early wickets but she gave us a score we could defend. The crowd today was excellent and the good thing was that they were not just supporting the St Vincent and the Grenadines team, but they are supporting the game of cricket as well and this is great to see.”
In the playoff match at Stubbs, St Lucia beat Grenada by four wickets, after chasing down a target of 89.
