KINGSTOWN, St Vin­cent – The Lee­ward Is­lands Women se­cured a com­mand­ing 36-run vic­to­ry over Trinidad and To­ba­go Women in the 13th match of the Women’s T20 Blaze at Arnos Vale Play­ing Field on Fri­day.

It was the third match in a row that Trinidad and To­ba­go loss af­ter be­ing beat­en by Wind­ward Is­lands on Mon­day by three wick­ets and Guyana record­ed an eight-wick­et vic­to­ry.

The vic­to­ry puts the Lee­wards in a strong po­si­tion to make the tour­na­ment fi­nal, how­ev­er, they will have to await the re­sults of the re­main­ing games lat­er to­day to see if they will get the chance.

Bat­ting first, the Lee­wards post­ed a com­pet­i­tive 133-5 in their 20 overs, thanks to sol­id con­tri­bu­tions from Shawnisha Hec­tor and Jahzara Clax­ton.

It was Hec­tor and fel­low open­er Qiana Joseph who got things go­ing with a sol­id 63-run open­ing stand. Hec­tor led the charge with some be­liger­ent hit­ting with four fours and three six­es in her 26-ball knock of 40.

She be­came the first wick­et to fall, bowled by Ameri­ta Ram­ta­hal in the eighth over. Af­ter hit­ting three fours, Joseph went in the 11th over for 25, but cap­tain Clax­ton came in and en­sured her team got a good to­tal with a brisk 32 not out from 28 balls with one four and two six­es.

T&T’s Shali­ni Sama­roo 3-18 and Ram­ta­hal 2-20 kept the scor­ing in check with dis­ci­plined bowl­ing ef­forts.

In re­ply, T&T Women strug­gled to build mo­men­tum, hav­ing lost two wick­ets for just 15 runs in the pow­er play. The Twin Is­land Re­pub­lic nev­er re­cov­ered and crum­bled to 97-8 in their al­lot­ted overs.

Lee-Ann Kir­by with 21 and Brit­ney Coop­er 14 of­fered brief re­sis­tance, but Aman­da Ed­wards, bowled with ag­gres­sion and picked up 3-17, to lead the Lee­wards bowl­ing at­tack, and the ul­ti­mate vic­to­ry.

<Ja­maica whips Guyana>

KINGSTOWN, St Vin­cent– Ja­maica Women took a step clos­er to­wards play­ing in Sun­day’s fi­nal of the Women’s T20 Blaze, fol­low­ing a com­mand­ing sev­en-wick­et vic­to­ry over pre­vi­ous­ly un­beat­en Guyana Women at Arnos Vale Play­ing Field on Fri­day.

The win was Ja­maica’s third in the com­pe­ti­tion, this fol­lows pre­vi­ous de­feats to the Lee­ward Is­lands and Trinidad & To­ba­go.

Asked to take the first strike, Guyana strug­gled to build mo­men­tum af­ter los­ing a cou­ple of ear­ly wick­ets in the pow­er play, thanks to some en­ter­pris­ing bowl­ing from the seam duo of Chinelle Hen­ry and Neisha Ann Wai­some.

First, Hen­ry trapped open­er Realean­na Grim­mond in front for just one in the first over of the in­nings, then Wai­some had Mandy Man­gru caught for just four to lev­el the Guyanese side at 16 for two in the fifth over.

Shabi­ka Gajn­abi then came in and joined Cap­tain She­maine Camp­belle, and the pair took the score to 33 be­fore Gajn­abi went for 16 to spin­ner Nicole Camp­bell.

All this time, Camp­belle tried to stem the flow of wick­ets by bat­ting 33 balls, but that didn’t stop the Ja­maicans from pick­ing away at the oth­er end to leave the Guayanes in a spot of both­er. Skip­per Camp­belle would fall in the fi­nal over for a well-played 32, which in­clud­ed four fours.

Off-spin­ner Vanes­sa Watts was the chief de­stroy­er, claim­ing four wick­ets for 13 runs to­wards the end to help re­strict Guyana to 83 for nine in their al­lot­ted 20 overs. Camp­bell sup­port­ed well with 2 for 12.

In re­ply, Ja­maica chased down the tar­get with rel­a­tive ease, reach­ing 84 for 3 in just 16.1 overs. Cap­tain Rasha­da Williams got the chase go­ing with a brisk 19 off 22 balls be­fore she was run out. Abi­gail Bryce then an­chored the in­nings with an un­beat­en 30 from 34 balls with four fours. She was well sup­port­ed by Hen­ry, who was left un­beat­en on 12, to take the Ja­maicans over the line.

SUM­MARISED SCORES

LEE­WARD IS­LANDS WOMEN 133-5 in 20 overs (Shawnisha Hec­tor 40, Jahzara Clax­ton 32 not out, Qiana Joseph 25; Shali­ni Sama­roo 3-18, Am­ri­ta Ram­ta­hal 2-20) vs T&T WOMEN 97-8 in 20 overs (Lee-Ann Kir­by 21, Brit­ney Coop­er 14, Sama­ra Ram­nath 13; Aman­da Ed­wards 3-17).

GUYANA WOMEN 83-9 in 20 overs (She­maine Camp­belle 32, Shabi­ka Gajn­abi 16; Vanes­sa Watts 4-13, Nicole Camp­bell 2-12) vs JA­MAICA WOMEN 84-3 in 16.1 overs (Abi­gail Bryce 30 not out, Rasha­da Williams 19, Chinelle Hen­ry 12 not out; Cher­ry-Ann Fras­er 1-13).