Dottin reflects on dropped chances, TKR women face must-win WCPL match

Host franchise Trinbago Knight Riders (TKR) women have lost two straight games to start the 2024 Massy Women's Caribbean Premier League (WCPL) campaign, and skipper Deandra Dottin believes dropped catches cost her team in their eight-wicket defeat to Guyana Amazon Warriors at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Tarouba on August 23.

After being sent in by the Amazon Warriors, TKR made a modest score of 130 for six, with the former team getting to the target with ease with 16 balls left.

Australian allrounder Erin Burns made an unbeaten 78 off 48 balls and claimed the Player of the Match award after sharing an unbeaten game-sealing 119-run partnership with her skipper Lauren Winfield-Hill, who hit a patient 46 off 47 balls.

On two occasions in her innings, Burns was dropped, with the latter chance being put down by veteran spinner Anisa Mohammed in the 12th over of the chase. Burns was on 49 at time, with the Warriors placed on 78 for two.

The 36-year-old Burns made the most of her lives and she led the Warriors to their first win in the three-team tourney.

"I think the dropped catches are what cost us (the game)," Dottin said after the match. "Other than that, it was still a good allround performance. It was just those catches."

TKR's two losses puts them in a precarious position, as they must beat the Warriors in their next game from 8 pm on August 25 to stay alive in the WCPL.

Dottin says her team must lift their standards, and she said the outfield conditions weren't to blame.

"We already know how the conditions are. I don't think wetness should be an excuse. I think we're good enough to take those catches."

Defending champions Barbados Royals have four points after two consecutive wins, with the Warriors second on two points. Each time will play four games in the round robin phase of the tourney, with the top two teams meeting in the final on August 29.

Royals defeated the Warriors by an eight-run margin in the 2023 finale, with TKR, the 2022 champs, finishing at the bottom of the table after winning just one of their four matches.

The hosts must correct their flaws quickly if they intend to improve on their 2023 showing.

"We will probably have a rest and then we'll have a chat about where we went wrong tonight (August 23)."