… Cooper, Mohammed shine for T&T; Jamaica make light work of St Vincent

Player-of-the-match Trinidad and Tobago’s Brittany Cooper receives her trophy from marketing manager of the Guyana Cricket Board Ramsay Ali. (Sonell Nelson photo)

TRINIDAD and Tobago booked their place in the final of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) regional women’s limited overs tournament where they will face defending champions Jamaica today at the GCC ground, Bourda, following a tense one-wicket victory over Barbados at the Demerara Cricket Club (DCC) ground yesterday.

Replying to Barbados’ 178 all out from 49.4 overs, T&T reached 181-9 from 48.4 overs, thanks to the batting of Brittany Cooper (58) and an injured Alisa Mohammed who was unbeaten on 28.

The Trinidadian ladies were shakily placed on 38-3 in the 14th over, as they lost the in-form Amanda Samaroo (11, 1×4), Devika Singh (9) and Gaitri Seetahal (1), before Brittany Cooper (58) and Stacy Ann King (23) joined forces, and, with a level-headed approach, added 55 valuable runs for the fourth wicket.

The pair realised their team’s 50 in the 19th over bowled by Pamela Lavine, as both batters struck her for four including a free hit from King in an over which cost Barbados 16 runs and saw Trinidad to 64-3 at the end.

Back-to-back fours through extra cover from King including an all-run one to deep extra cover, pushed T&T to 90-3 in the 25th over, but in her attempt to hit Shaquane Quintyne somewhere on Lance Gibbs Street, King lost her off stump to leave T&T on 93-4 in the 27th over.

Her stay at the wicket with Cooper, who was on 24 at King’s dismissal, produced 55 runs from 13.3 overs for T&T who lost Merissa Aguilera (5) and Kirbyina Alexander (0) in quick succession to be 104-6 in the 31st over of their innings.

The injured Alisa Mohammed, who used King as her runner, joined Cooper and as was the scenario when King and Cooper were batting, aggressive running in between the wickets was on display for T&T, which apparently frustrated the Barbadians.

Cooper raised her 50 – the lone one of the match – with a glance to square leg off the experienced Pamela Lavine, counting two fours from the 88th delivery she faced, but most importantly, carrying her team to 143-6 in the 42nd over of their innings.

A short ball from Tiffany Thorpe was pulled with disdain to long leg by Cooper, before she was run-out by Kella Elliot at deep midwicket for a well-played 58 (2×4) from 82 deliveries. And when new batter Anisa Mohammed (1) was run-out in the same over by Deandra Dottin, T&T were staring down the barrel of defeat at 155-8 in the 44th over.

However, Alisa Mohammed continued to soldier on for her team despite her injury, with two wonderful drives between cover and extra cover which pushed T&T to within nine runs of a well-deserved victory, as they moved to 170-8 at the end of 47 overs.

It came down to T&T needing six runs to win from 18 deliveries with two wickets in hand and as she did while wickets were falling at the other end, Mohammed kept her nerves and watched as Jervinia Pulloch-Singh calmly turned a delivery from Shakeila Selman to the fine leg boundary to complete the victory against the bowling of Quintyne (2-32), and in the process steer her country into the final where they will face the undefeated Jamaicans.

Barbados had earlier won the toss in brilliant sunshine and, opting to take first strike on a two-paced track, lost their first wicket that of Michelle Ellis (2) who was bowled by Alexander (3-31) to be 3-1 in the third over, but managed to reach 178 before they were bowled out in the final over of their innings with two deliveries to spare.

Quintyne (31, 3×4) and Lavine (45, 3×4) added 79 for the second wicket from 24.3 overs, with both batters hitting Cooper through midwicket for four, while Quintyne pulled a short delivery from Samaroo to fine leg for four which pushed the score to 44-1 at the end of 14 overs.

The pint-sized Quintyne, who was player-of-the-match in Barbados’ final preliminary round game against St Lucia, was forced to retire hurt suffering from cramps in her legs when on 23 at 82-1 at the end of the 28th over. This triggered a collapse for Barbados who saw two wickets go down for 14 runs.

Lavine, who scored the first century in this year’s tournament, was caught by Singh at gully point off the bowling of Anisa Mohammed (2-23) and she was quickly followed by Charlene Taitt (4) who was caught by Aguilera also off Mohammed.

This brought the hard-hitting Deandra Dottin to the wicket and she did not disappoint the small band of supporters gathered at the Queenstown-based club, as she clobbered three sixes, which included an effortless shot back over the head of Alexander and into the yard of former West Indies coach Roger Harper.

She followed it up with an audacious pull over forward square, for a maximum two deliveries later, while Seetahal was dispatched over long off for her third maximum. But in her haste to up the scoring rate, she holed out to deep extra cover where Cooper held a running catch off Stacy Ann King (3-28).

From 128-4 in the 38th over, Barbados stumbled to 149-6 losing the wickets of Rashida Goring (11) and Monique Best (4), at which point Quintyne resumed her innings, but she did not hang around long enough to create any problems for the Twin Island Republic ladies, as she was run-out after adding eight to her retired total.

A patient batting display from Shakeira Selman, who was unbeaten on 15, carried Barbados to their eventual total of 178 all out from 49.4 overs against the bowling of King (3-28), Alexander (3-31) and Anisa Mohammed who offered support with 2-23.

At the Everest Cricket Club ground, defending champions Jamaica romped to an easy six-wicket victory over St Vincent.

Opting to take first strike, St Vincent were bowled out for a paltry 53 from 26.1 overs, with extras (21) and Cordel Jack (10) being the leading scorers against the bowling of Karla Cohen and Peta Gaye-Hanson who both took 3-8, with support from Abi Gaye-Hendricks who took 2-12.

Jamaica took their time in marching to victory, utilising 30.3 overs in accumulating 54 for the loss of four wickets with Jodian Morgan (11) and skipper Herma Nathan-Dawes (10) being the leading scorers against some tight bowling from Jack who took 2-9 from 10 overs with five maidens for St Vincent, albeit in a losing effort.