Trinidad and Tobago, USA vie for Women’s Rising Stars T20 crown

HOSTS TRINIDAD and Tobago and the United States will be vying for the overall title in the Cricket West Indies (CWI) Women’s Rising Stars T20 Championship on Wednesday.

After the sixth round of the seven-team tournament, TT and the US have 18 points apiece, but TT’s net run-rate is 2.895 while the US’ net run-rate is 2.574.

The Windward Islands, Barbados and Jamaica each have tallied ten points, followed by Guyana (eight) and the Leewards Islands (two).

Wednesday’s final round of the 2022 competition will involve a pair of matches at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy, Tarouba, with TT squaring off against the US at 10 am, and Guyana meeting the Windwards at 2.30 pm.

On a rain-affected Tuesday, TT and the US kept their unbeaten runs alive with victories over the Windwards and Guyana respectively.

At Tarouba, in the second of two scheduled games, TT defeated Windwards by 20 runs, under the Duckworth-Lewis method.

TT, who were sent in to bat, reached 111 runs for seven wickets in their allotted 20 overs, with opener Shunelle Sawh hitting 36 (50 balls, four boundaries), while captain Shalini Samaroo chipped in with 23 and Kenika Cassar 18 not out.

The Windwards were set a reduced target of 89 off 15 overs, but were bowled out for 68 with three deliveries remaining.

Pace bowler Ameila Khan took four wickets for 17 runs for TT. Captain Zaida James (23), Jannillea Glasgow (12) and Natalia Phillip (ten) were the only Windwards batters to reach double figures.

The earlier scheduled game at Tarouba – Jamaica vs Barbados – was abandoned without a ball being bowled. The US continued their fine form with a ten-wicket trouncing on Guyana at the Diego Martin Sporting Complex.

In a 15-overs-per-side affair, Guyana were restricted to 47/5 with Niveena Ramnauth scoring 12. Bhumika Bhadriraju got 2/15 for the US.

The Americans, who were set a revised target of 53, raced to 56 without loss in 9.1 overs, courtesy of Disha Dhingra’s 32 and Chetnaa Prasad’s 19.