ROUND-UP
Follow UsThe Barbados Royals won their second Women’s Caribbean Premier League (WCPL) title on the trot, beating Trinbago Knight Riders (TKR) in the final in Tarouba on August 29 (Thursday). They had a near-perfect tournament, losing just one of their five matches in the tournament.
Here’s a look at the match results:
Match 1: Barbados Royals beat Guyana Amazon Warriors by 1 wicket
Match 2: Barbados Royals beat Trinbago Knight Riders by 7 wickets
Match 3: Guyana Amazon Warriors beat Trinbago Knight Riders by 8 wickets
Match 4: Trinbago Knight Riders tied with Guyana Amazon Warriors (TKR won the Super Over)
Match 5: Barbados Royals beat Guyana Amazon Warriors by 17 runs
Match 6: Trinbago Knight Riders beat Barbados Royals by 4 wickets
Final: Barbados Royals beat Trinbago Knight Riders by 4 wickets
How did the Indian contingent fare?
The WCPL featured just two players from India – Jemimah Rodrigues and Shikha Pandey - and both turned up for TKR.
Rodrigues went past 25 only twice in five innings, and in one of them she smashed an unbeaten 59 off 50, which took TKR home by four wickets with two balls to spare against the Royals, roaring back to form just before the final. She also struck a useful 24-ball 26 against the Warriors earlier in the season that gave her team a competitive 130, but it was not enough in the end.
With 105 runs in five innings, she was the fifth-highest run-getter in the tournament, and she scored those runs at a strike rate of 108.24.
Her Team India colleague Shikha Pandey, too, showed off her prowess not just with the ball but also with the bat. She batted higher than she usually does and slammed 90 runs with the bat. With the ball, she snapped up four wickets at an economy rate of 6.80.
Top performers
Hayley Matthews
West Indies all-rounder Hayley Matthews had an outstanding tournament that resulted in her winning Player of the Tournament. It was well-deserved as she scored 147 runs at an average of 49.0 (SR 102.08). But she was even more impressive with the ball. Her off-spin fetched her 11 wickets – the most in the tournament – striking once every 10.18 deliveries, 7.81 runs apart and at an economy rate of 4.6.
Records set/broken by Matthews in WCPL 2024:
11 – Most wickets in a season
12 – Most fours in a WCPL innings, second joint-most boundaries in a WCPL innings
4/14 – Best bowling figures in WCPL
Erin Burns
The highlight of Erin Burns’ campaign was the back-to-back fifties she scored against The Knight Riders and also the five wickets she picked up with her off-spin. She was the best batter of the tournament, finishing with 172 runs at 57.33, along with a strike rate of 123.74, which is not all that bad given that the entire tournament was played on slow and dead surfaces.
Aaliyah Alleyne
Aaliyah Alleyne saved her best for the last, as her figures of 4/21 in the final allowed Barbados defend their title. Not to forget, the medium-pacer also started the tournament off with a three-wicket haul, eventually finishing with nine wickets at an economy rate of 6.00.
Shabnim Ismail
Former South Africa pacer Shabnim Ismail proved she still has what it takes at this level, as she finished as the second-highest wicket-taker in the competition with nine scalps at a miserly economy rate of 4.25. She did not go wicketless at all in the tournament, picking up her best of 4/16 against the Royals in the first match.
Flops
Jess Jonassen
Jess Jonassen had a poor tournament by her standards with both bat and ball. On slow and placid pitches, she managed to pick up just four wickets in 18 overs and she did not induce much confidence down the order, scoring 46 runs at a strike rate of 95.83.
Lauren Winfield-Hill
Warriors opener Lauren Winfield-Hill had just one innings of any significance in which she scored an unbeaten 46 off 47 and was involved in a record-breaking stand with Erin Burns. Barring that, she scored 17, 10, 11 and 12, finishing with just 79 runs at a strike rate of 83.15.
Natasha McLean
Natasha McLean started off the tournament with a 17-ball 28, but it went downhill for her from there. Overall, she managed just 40 runs in four innings, hitting just three boundaries in 42 balls.
Kycia Knight
0, 0, 16, 17 and 17* - Kycia Knight never got going in the WCPL. The former West Indies wicketkeeper managed just 50 runs at a strike rate of under 80.
Some stats from WCPL 2024 to feast on
Most boundaries in an innings in Women's CPL
15 - Sophie Devine vs BRW, Barbados, 2023
12 - Hayley Matthews vs GAWW, Trinidad, 2023
12 - Hayley Matthews vs TKRW, Trinidad, 2024
10 - Erin Burns vs TKRW, Trinidad, 2024
10 - Chamari Athapaththu vs TKRW, Trinidad, 2024
Most 4s in an innings in Women's CPL
12 - Hayley Matthews vs TKRW, Trinidad, 2024
10 - Sophie Devine vs BRW, Barbados, 2023
10 - Hayley Matthews vs GAWW, Trinidad, 2023
10 - Erin Burns vs TKRW, Trinidad, 2024
10 - Chamari Athapaththu vs TKRW, Trinidad, 2024
Highest strike rate in an innings in Women's CPL (20+ balls)
163 - Erin Burns vs TKRW, Trinidad, 2024
161 - Sophie Devine vs BRW, Barbados, 2023
157 - Mignon du Preez vs BRW, Trinidad, 2023
157 - Rashada Williams vs GAWW, Trinidad, 2023
*All stats courtesy Dhanush Lavanya
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