Skipper Stafanie Taylor hit a brisk 36 as the NLCB Revellers easily defeated the Courts Gladiators by eight wickets in their NLCB Challenge T10 clash ahead of Thursday’s Caribbean Premier League (CPL) semi-finals at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Tarouba.
The match, which was put on by the CPL and the Ministry of Sport here in Trinidad, was all part of a strategy to give the region’s female cricketers a boost, as they were seen all over the world through the live television broadcast of the match.
And Taylor and her teammates took full advantage to showcase their talent.
Batting first, Gladiators scored 74 for two off their 10 overs with West Indies batter Hayley Matthews scoring an unbeaten 46 off 34 balls, including six hits to the fence. Also among the runs was wicketkeeper Kycia Knight who made 20.
However, the scoring rate was a bit tardy and this told in the end with the Revellers easily reaching their victory.
Taylor later showed her class in scoring her runs off just 18 balls with seven fours to lead the rout. Openers Stacy King and Britney Cooper also got the team off to a good start, with the former scoring 15 off 12 balls and the latter getting 22 not out as the Rebvellers got the winning runs with fours balls to spare.
The two teams will meet again tomorrow in the second and final match of the series at 12.30 pm. This match will also be played before the CPL final.
SCORES
COURTS GLADIATORS 74-2 (10) (Hayley Matthews 46*, Kycia Knight 20, Shenelle Henry 1/13, Caneisha Isaac 1/13) v NLCB Revellers 78-2 (9.2) (Stafanie Taylor 36, Britney Cooper 22*)
Result: Revellers won by 8 wkts