THE Guyana Amazon Warrior’s skipper and West Indies vice-captain Shemaine Campbelle believes that the support for her side from fans was not as forthcoming as it should have been for the recently concluded Massy Caribbean Premier League.
Speaking after her franchise team’s nail-biting loss against the Barbados Royals in this week’s final, the senior player said that it hurts to see the turnout for the women’s games in the competition.
The Warriors narrowly lost in the last over by three wickets with balls to spare on Wednesday.
And the veteran wicket keeping-batter Shemaine Campbelle says the team didn’t get the kind of support they were hoping for from persons.
“To be honest, we are very disappointed because most of the fans have been collecting tickets and they have not been coming out to support the women. They keep the tickets for the men’s game and we are very much disappointed about it because often you have been hearing that woman cricket not playing in Guyana; now the opportunity comes but they are not coming out to give us the support. We must say thanks to the few that come out and support us,” said Campbelle.
She said it made the loss to Barbados at home made it all the harder, as she expressed sadness with how their campaign ended this year.
“It is really disappointing to know we came so far but yet it still far from us, but I must say congratulations to Barbados Royals; they played good cricket throughout the tournament and I must give them credit for that. I think the girls were pretty good, different batters stepping up and different bowlers chipping in, I must say I’m very much proud the way the girls go about their work,” She added.
Meanwhile, winning skipper Chinelle Henry says she was elated to guide her side to [an] unprecedented third title in honour of their captain Hayley Matthews, who was injured before the start of the tournament.
“As a team when we came together and recognised that Hayley Matthews was not going to be here, we knew the task we had to do and we came together and said this one is going to be for us and for her because she is not here, the coach said we are going to make something special without Hayley Matthews in the dugout and we did that tonight [Wednesday] and I’m really proud of my team and the girls did a good job.”
Henry says now she will get some rest and prepare for the Australian women’s big bash league.