Kaysia Schultz grabbed a four-wicket haul while Kavita Yadram and Cherry-Ann Fraser got among the runs in Demerara’s first female trial yesterday at the La Bonne Intention, East Coast Demerara.
With 17 players responding to the call, the ladies, coached by Cricket West Indies Level Two coach, Ryan Hercules, went through two batting sessions.
In the first session, Schultz, a left-arm spinner who has been a mainstay in recent West Indies Women training camps, showed her class as she bagged four wickets for just 15 runs from four overs. The 21-year-old pulled off a sharp return catch to dismiss Mandy Mangru for a 27-ball 16 before working her way through the middle order.
The Craig, East Bank Demerara resident, trapped Akaze Thompson (02) leg before wicket and found the edge of Heema Singh’s bat as the batting side lost four wickets for 12 runs.
Shultz, however, could not break the 67-run six-wicket partnership between Yadram and Fraser.
The duo resisted and cashed in on a lot of singles and twos by finding the gaps.
Schultz was struck for nine runs in her final over with the two players hitting one boundary each.
Fraser made 30 from 32 balls before holing out to mid-wicket off a long hop from leg-spinner, Vanita Balkisoon in the final over of the innings.
Yadram was unbeaten on 35 from 62 balls, the highest score of the day.
Yadram, 27, said she was happy to make a return to the field and was a bit nervous at the start of her innings but with the experienced Fraser at the other end, she was confident that they could build a partnership.
According to Hercules, the objective was to gauge the batters with targets and those were set at intervals of 15 overs. The first set reached 71 for five wickets in their assessment while the second set only lost one wicket for 76 runs.
Hercules said that he was impressed with the way Fraser and Yadram batted but was disappointed in the women giving away 76 extras.
When the second side batted, only Haseena Mohammed was able to construct an innings before she was run out for 18. She later returned with the ball to take two wickets for 10 runs.
Off-spinner, Mangru grabbed two wickets for five runs while Fraser returned two wickets for 30 runs from her six overs.
The women will return today from 09.00 hours for the second trial and the organisers are inviting females who are interested to come and participate for a spot on the Demerara Inter-County team.
