West Indies captain wants more cricket after low-scoring CPL final

DEFEATED BARBADOS Royals captain Hayley Matthews believes her team’s inability to successfully chase the Trinbago Knight Riders’ (TKR) low score of 100 runs in Sunday’s Massy Women’s Caribbean Premier League T20 final is testament that there is much work to done for women’s cricket development in the region.

However, Matthews believes the inaugural staging of both the Women’s CPLT20 and 6ixty tournaments is the foundation for greater things to come from regional cricketers.

In the final, TKR posted a modest 100 runs from 20 overs and defended their total by dismissing the Bajan franchise for just 90 runs, prevailing by ten runs. TKR were crowned inaugural Women’s CPLT20 champion, getting revenge after Barbados Royals defeated them in the 6ixty final.

Matthews, who is also the West Indies captain, was disappointed to not lift the T20 title but said it was a learning experience for her team.

“Any time we go out there and a team puts 100 runs on the board in a T20 match, we’re definitely looking to get over the line. We weren’t able to do that today but definitely a lot of learning that can take place from what happened in today’s game,” Matthews said.

For the Bajan all-rounder, their unsuccessful chase of the low target means there is a still a lot of development work to be done in the region. But Matthews believes tournaments like these are a catalyst to ignite the necessary growth.

“A tournament like this is very healthy for cricket in the Caribbean. It’s going to help a lot of players grow. I think in a final if you can defend a total with 100 runs, it shows that a lot of growth is needed throughout our game in the Caribbean so hopefully tournaments like this can continue to help with that and we can get more games played next year.”

Matthews was the only player to show some resistance against an in-form TKR bowling attack, as she scored 46 runs from 49 balls and also topped the bowling by capturing 3/22.

Trinbago Knight Riders captain Deandra Dottin scored the lone half-century in the CPL, and it came in the final match in the tournament. She finished as the top scorer with 100 runs from three matches. Matthews was second on the run chart with 86 runs from three matches.

No team batted at better than a run a ball throughout the brief tournament. The highest total was 114/7, set by Trinbago Knight Riders against Barbados Royals in the tournament opener.

Cricket West Indies (CWI) CEO Johnny Grave confirmed plans are afoot to make the 2023 editions of these two competitions bigger and better.

Grave said the feedback from players, franchises and commercial partners has been “great” and both competitions were a step in the right direction for women’s cricket development in the Caribbean.

“The Massy Women’s CPLT20 and 6ixty tournaments in St Kitts have been fantastic, providing more playing opportunities for our female cricketers and great entertainment to our fans. We are already discussing how we can expand on the inaugural events to make them better for next year and beyond,” he said.

Despite the final being a low-scoring affair, as TKR successfully defended 100 runs, Grave said there were many positive takeaways from both tournaments which will aid the progression and popularity of the new regional tourneys.

Grave believes the future looks bright for women’s cricket.

“More playing opportunities, global television exposure, more player remuneration, DRS, high-quality overseas players, good support staff, sponsor support…all augurs very well in my opinion.”