Hayley Matthews snatches high-intense victory in WCPL 2024 opening

The franchise-based T-20 Women’s Caribbean Premier League (WCPL) inaugurated its 2024 edition, and the day belonged to Hayley Matthews. The first match of the tournament was fixed between Barbados Royals and Guyana Amazon Warriors.

Hayley Matthews hit the ground on the opening day of the third season of WCPL as the captain of Barbados Royals women. The toss was won by Captain Matthews after which she decided to bowl first and bring the opponents to set the chasing score.

The first match of WCPL 2024 was a high-intensity game of cricket that concluded in favor of Barbados Royals. The close result came after a long struggle on the pitch by Hayley Matthews, who scored 61 runs out of 58 balls in winning conditions.

While chasing the target of 119 runs in the WCPL 2024 opener, the women batsmen of the Barbados Royals team failed. As the team was constantly losing wickets, Hayley Matthews was the one who kept her end protected.

After the fall of the first wicket at 29 runs, the team lost three more wickets till the score of 50 runs in 10.2 overs. In the pressurized match, Hayley Matthews was supported only by Qiana Joseph, who scored 24 runs in 20 balls with 3 boundaries at fourth dawn.

Qiana Joseph lost her wicket on the first ball of the sixteenth over at a total of 92 for 5. Shabnim Ismail was the one bowler who came as the major challenge for the chasing team. The bowler took 4 wickets in her 4 overs by giving just 16 runs with an economy rate of 4.

Between the score of 92 to 115, Barbados Royals lost another 4 wickets while Hayley Matthews kept standing on the pitch. The second last over of the match was bowled by Chloe Tryon, making the chase more intense as she just gave one run in her six balls.

In the last over, the team needed 7 runs to win, which became tougher when the ninth wicket fell on the third ball. Anyhow, Hayley Matthews scored two doubles in the next two balls and sealed chased the target. Hayley Matthews led the team as captain and single-handedly snatched the victory.

The grand sports event being hosted in Trinidad and Tobago was initiated by the women batsmen of Guyana Amazon Warriors. The captain, Lauren Winfield Hill, came to open the inning along with Natasha McLean at the Brian Lara Cricket Stadium in Tarouba.

Both the openers were departed after facing 12 balls each. Natasha McLean was the first wicket to fall on the day and also in the tournament after scoring just 11 runs. Captain Lauren was also sent to the pavilion with a personal score of 10 runs.

The team of Guyana Amazon Warriors was limited by the Barbados bowlers on the score of 118 runs in total with a loss of 9 wickets. Stafanie Taylor was the highest scorer of the inning and the only player who scored more runs than played balls.

Hayley Matthews handed the ball to 7 bowlers in the inning, including herself, out of which 4 added wickets in front of their names. Aaliyah Alleyne was the highest wicket-taker in the inning, who departed three players in her 4 overs.

Hayley Matthews also bowled 3 overs, in which she took two wickets of Ashmini Munisar and Karishma Ramharack. She gave 19 runs in her spells with an economy rate of 6.33. Captain Matthews performed in all sections and started the venture of Barbados Royals with win in WCPL 2024.