Grenada held their nerves to secure a gripping 4-wicket victory over Saint Lucia in the Grand Final of the 2023 Windward Islands Senior Women T20 Cricket Tournament at the Daren Sammy Cricket Ground, last Friday.
Chasing a target of 144, Grenada leapt out of the blocks with skipper Afy Fletcher stroking two fours and a two from the first over bowled by Roylin Cooper. An eleven ball 26-run second over delivered by medium-pacer, Nesha Alexander placed Grenada comfortably in the driver’s seat, but Saint Lucia came back strongly and at the half-way stage Grenada were 79 for 2 with 65 still required from the last ten overs.
Fletcher 78 (54) 11×4 was the only batter to boost the scoring with boundaries off Zaida James, Nerissa Crafton and Qiana Joseph. However, Saint Lucia’s hopes were kept alive when Fletcher was dismissed by Joseph in the 18th over.
At that stage the equation was 11 runs required from 13 deliveries. Janel Charles and Aria Fortune took seven runs off the penultimate over before Fortune saw Grenada home with a pull to the square-leg boundary, which resulted in wild celebrations from the ‘Spice Isle’ ladies.
Saint Lucia batted first, to total a below-par 143 with the main contributions coming from the in-form Qiana Joseph 54 (48)6×4, and Namiah Marcellin 21*. The two batters featured in a fifth-wicket partnership of 66.
Final Scores:
Saint Lucia Senior Women 143 / 6 in (20 overs)
Grenada Senior Women 144 / 6 in (19.1 overs)
Result: Grenada won by 4 wickets.
In the Third-Place playoff; St. Vincent and The Grenadines (SVG) defeated Dominica by 36 runs.
Batting first, SVG were bowled out for 112 (18.5 overs), with Kimone Homer top-scoring with 48, 8×4, and skipper Pearl Etienne was Dominica’s best bowler, finishing with 4 / 20 (5 overs).
In reply, Dominica could only muster 76 / 9 with right-arm seamer, Tracy Byron and off-spinner Nyasha Durrant picked up three wickets each.
Final Scores:
SVG – Senior Women 112 all out in (18.5 overs)
Dominica Senior Women – 76 / 9 (20 overs).