Com­bine Forces and Play­ers have qual­i­fied for the fi­nal of the Cal­i­for­ni­ana Women's Wind­ball Crick­et League com­pe­ti­tion. Both teams booked their places in the cham­pi­onship match af­ter con­trast­ing vic­to­ries in their semi­fi­nal play-offs at Macaulay Park, Cal­i­for­nia, on Sun­day. In the first semi­fi­nal, Com­bine Forces won in a nail-bit­ing fin­ish by one wick­et in the last over against a grit­ty Desert Unit­ed. Scores in the match: Desert Unit­ed 44 all out; Com­bine Forces 45 for 9. The sec­ond semi­fi­nal was a com­plete­ly dif­fer­ent af­fair with Play­ers breez­ing to vic­to­ry by 50 runs over a lack-lus­tre Vic­tors X1. Scores: Play­ers 77 for 6; Vic­tors X1 27 all out. New league cham­pi­ons will be crowned as de­fend­ing cham­pi­ons Tamana Unit­ed were elim­i­nat­ed in the quar­ter-fi­nal round. The top four teams in the two di­vi­sions of the league com­pe­ti­tion faced off in the 'Big 8' quar­ter-fi­nal play-offs on Sat­ur­day and Sun­day, with the four win­ners con­test­ing the se­mi-fi­nals. The fi­nal and play-offs for third and fourth po­si­tions are sched­uled for next Sat­ur­day (June 11).

Tak­ing first strike in the first se­mi-fi­nal, Desert Unit­ed start­ed their in­nings in the most dis­as­trous fash­ion, los­ing their first wick­et off the first ball through the run out route. They were kept on the back foot through­out their in­nings and were reel­ing at 28 for nine in the 10th over be­fore a last wick­et part­ner­ship of 16 runs gave their to­tal a mea­sure of re­spectabil­i­ty. Beni­ta Pe­ters (16) and Vi­o­la Soungie (5) were the best bat­ters for Desert, who were helped by ten ex­tras. Bev­er­ly Grif­fith (3 for 9) and cap­tain Lindy Ann Williams (2 for 5) were al­most un­playable for Com­bine Forces who sparkled in the field. Com­bine Forces made heavy weath­er of their chase and fared no bet­ter than Desert, los­ing their 8th wick­et in the 12th over for just 26 runs. With six runs need­ed in the last over for a place in the fi­nal, Com­bine Forces lost their ninth wick­et off the first ball by a run out.

How­ev­er, dis­as­ter be­fell Desert with their bowler los­ing her nerves and send­ing down three wides to en­able Com­bine Forces to scrape home by one wick­et. Sal­isha Ed­wards (9) held the in­nings to­geth­er for Com­bine Forces who were grate­ful for the ten ex­tras which con­tributed to their to­tal. Beni­ta Pe­ters (2 for 4), Tiffany Mills (2 for 5) and Gail David (1 for 9) were the best bowlers for Desert. Play­ers out­classed a dis­ap­point­ing Vic­tors X1 in the sec­ond se­mi-fi­nal which fin­ished at 10 pm. Tak­ing first strike, Play­ers romped to a com­mand­ing 77 for 6, with the pro­lif­ic Na­dia Mo­hammed (17), Brit­ney Coop­er (13) and Krys­tal Jack (10) the main con­trib­u­tors with the bat. Ex­tras (15) beefed up the to­tal. Ri­an­na Ju­man (3 for 10) was the best bowler for Vic­tors X1. Vic­tors X1 put up very lit­tle re­sis­tance in their re­ply and were skit­tled out for a pal­try 27 runs in the 10th over. Ex­tras (9) were the biggest con­trib­u­tor to their to­tal. Sum­intra Ram­sawak (3 for 7), Shereene Ramkissoon (2 for 9) and Na­dia Mo­hammed (1 for 6) did the dam­age for Play­ers. In the quar­ter-fi­nals, Com­bine Forces won over Queen's X1; Desert Unit­ed beat Bless Unit­ed; Vic­tors X1 over­came Trin­ba­go Ex-Na­tion­als; and Play­ers de­feat­ed Tamana Unit­ed.