A half century by Chinelle Henry followed up by a four wicket haul marked an 80-run victory for Jamaica over Windward Islands in the opening round of the Cricket West Indies Colonial Medical Insurance Super50 tournament at Georgetown Cricket Club (GCC) yesterday.
Windwards won the toss and sent Jamaica in to bat where they posted 236-8 from their full quota and then restricted Windwards to 156 in 46.3 overs.
Jamaica’s batting was indebted to 23-year-old Henry who was dropped on 31. She stroked 54 from 40 balls with six boundaries, predominantly through the third man region.
Henry, before she was trapped leg before wicket (LBW) attempting to sweep a delivery from leg-spinner, Afy Fletcher, shared in a sixth wicket partnership of 69 with Jodian Morgan who contributed a 39-ball 31 that was decorated with four boundaries before being stumped.
Earlier, Natasha McLean and Rashada Williams shared in a 59-run opening stand until both batters were dismissed by Fletcher for 40 and 24 respectively. Fletcher finished with 3-34 from her 10 overs.
Skipper, Stafanie Taylor (31) who had been put down on 16, and Chedean Nation (19) got starts until they were accounted for by Carena Noel, who finished with 2-36 from her six overs.
In the chase, Pearl Etienne was the only batter to look comfortable and she was left stranded on 47. The number nine batter’s over two-hour stay at the crease saw her soaking up 51 balls and hitting six boundaries along the way.
Etienne shared in a ninth wicket partnership of 41 with Quina Joseph (15) and a 46-run stand with Noel (08).
With rain causing an 18-minute interruption in the match, off-spinner, Vanessa Watts ripped through the middle order to finish with 4-25.
The 31-year-old was supported by Henry, who returned with her medium pace to take 2-17.
After the match, Taylor said she “thought the batters looked pretty decent out there,” but felt “a few of them missed out on a half century” including herself.
The captain stated that in terms of the fielding she thinks the team has to do a bit of work having allowed the last two partnerships for Windwards to be over 40.
The West Indies skipper pointed out that Jamaica will now go back to the drawing board as they come up against the hosts, Guyana, indicating that her team will not be taking them for granted.
Meanwhile, opposing captain Fletcher opined that her side made the game difficult, recalling that “certain aspects of the game went wrong.”
Fletcher accepted that her side didn’t build on partnerships as well as spilled a few dropped catches which she said “could have restricted Jamaica to under 180.”
