By Neto Baptiste
Coach of the Leeward Islands women’s cricket team, Leon Rodney, is expressing satisfaction despite their opening loss to the Windward Islands in the CWI Women’s T20 Blaze in Guyana on Tuesday.
Leeward Islands lost by four wickets with 17 balls remaining in their low-scoring affair at the Guyana National Stadium, but Rodney highlighted a number of areas where he believes the team excelled.
“I am not upset at all because I think we have ticked a few boxes knowing that the last time we had even played a tournament was 2019. If you look at the fielding, I think they ticked that box; I think the bowling would have ticked that box but the issue that we had was adaptation. I don’t think that the girls would have adopted like we wanted them to on what was an extra slow pitch,” he said.
Leeward Islands were restricted to 56 for seven in their 20 overs, with a top knock of 21 from Rosalie Dolabaille. Shawnisha Hector and Saneldo Willett both contributed with nine runs each. Pearl Etienne was the pick of the bowlers for Windward Islands with two wickets for eight runs in four overs.
Windward Islands then reached their target at 57 for six in 17.1 overs to claim victory in their opening contest. Kimone Hoper top-scored with 11 runs while Japhina Joseph made 10. Jenison Richards claimed three wickets for seven runs in her four overs.
Rodney said one of the aims is to get a win under their belt, but added that having players gain opportunities from their performances in the tournament is also important.
“We have not won a game in this tournament [since its inception] and I keep preaching to the ladies and will keep preaching to them that we need performance. At the end of the day, if we don’t win then what we want is to gain selections and if you can gain some selections in the set up whether in the West Indies training camp or even the younger ones in the pathway, then you would have had some level of success there that could help with the level of training they would get,” the coach said.
Also on Tuesday, Jamaica Women defeated Trinidad and Tobago Women by 78 runs and Barbados Women won over Guyana Women by seven runs at the Guyana National Stadium.
The Leeward Islands will face Barbados Women on Thursday, while Trinidad and Tobago play Guyana Women. Also on Thursday, Jamaica Women will face Windward Islands Women. All matches are being played at the Guyana National Stadium.
