Jamaica’s T20 Blaze struggles continue

Jamaica’s chances of claiming the Cricket West Indies (CWI) T20 Blaze trophy are getting slimmer by the minute as the Shane Brooks-coached side suffered their second defeat in as many games, this time against Barbados.

In the end, a six-wicket defeat was the order of the day as the Jamaicans, once again, struggled with the bat – posting 110 for six, after which Barbados eased to 111 for four with three overs to spare.

With a potent and experienced bowling attack, the Bardadians inserted the Jamaicans, who were in immediate trouble, losing veteran Chedean Nation to Niajanni Cumberbatch with the second ball of the innings for a duck.

Abigail Bryce then joined captain Rashada Williams, and they began the repair job by adding 66 runs for the second wicket.

The pair simply did what was required, and that was to rotate the strike and pick up the odd boundary off the seamers.

Bryce got to 33 with four boundaries included, but she soon fell, following the introduction of leg spinner Kelia Elliott.

Spin did the trick once again with the third wicket as off-spinner Theanny Herbert-Mayers had skipper Williams caught for 31 in the 13th over, with the score on 75.

Veteran Staphanie Taylor also had a brief stay at the crease as she hit one four in scoring 11 before she fell to a tame shot off Theanny Herbert-Mayers.

Eighty-four for four quickly became 84-5 as Lena Scott conjured up her second failing score, falling for four runs to Elliott, who, by now, was extracting a lot of bounce and turn from the Arnos Vale surface.

110 FOR SIX

Elliott picked up her third wicket, that of Kate Wilmot for a duck, as the Jamaicans limped to 110 for six in their allotted 20 overs.

That 110 runs, surprisingly, was the highest of the competition up to that point, and with that, the Jamaicans felt that they were in with a chance against the inexperienced Barbados batting line-up.

However, the Bajans had other ideas as 17-year-old Eboni Brathwaite wasted little time in getting her side off to a swashbuckling start.

The young right-hander took a liking to the Jamaican opening pair of Vanessa Watts and Neisha-Ann Waisome, slamming three fours and three sixes in racing to 36 by the fifth over.

It took the introduction of part-time spinner Nation to stem the flow of runs as she had Brathwaite caught with the score on 46.

Cumberbatch joined wicket-keeper Tristan Holder, and they took the score to 54 before Nation was among the wickets again.

This time, Cumberbatch was brilliantly caught at slip by Taylor for four.

Holder continued to tick away at the runs, using up 40 balls to score 23. After all the hard work, Holder went bowled by Watts to leave the Bajans 88 for three in the 14th over.

Asabi Callender came in and played a couple of shots in getting to 18, and when she became Nation’s third wicket with the score on 98, it was only a matter of time before victory was had.

Captain Aaliyah Alleyne used all her experience in scoring an unbeaten 19 to help Barbados over the line, with another veteran, Shakera Selman, not out on four.

The Jamaicans will look to secure their first win of the competition when they take on Guyana on Saturday.

In the day’s other game, Anisa Mohammed and Lee-Ann Kirby played starring roles with both bat and ball to propel Trinidad and Tobago Women to an impressive 16-run win over the Windward Islands Women.

Trinidad and Tobago scored 95-7, with Mohammed 29 not out and Kirby 28 against the bowling of Carena Noel, 3-15 and Holly Charles, 2-12.

In reply, the Windwards could only muster 79 in 19.3 overs with Jannillea Glasgow, 21, Afy Fletcher, 14, Ashlene Edward, 10, the main scorers against Mohammed, 3-10, Samara Ramnauth, 3-12, and Kirby, 2-8.