Trinbago Knight Riders seal spot in WCPL 2024 final with victory over Barbados Royals

The sixth and last match of the league stage in the Women’s Caribbean Premier League (WCPL) 2024 concluded with a victory for Trinbago Knight Riders. With the first defeat for Barbados Royals in the league, Knight Riders sealed their place in the third edition’s final.

The defending Champions, Barbados Royals, were already in the final of WCPL 2024. Now, with the favorable results in the crucial league stage match, the champions of the first season, Trinbago Knight Riders, also secured their spot in the final game.

The only match left on the league stage in WCPL 2024 was played at the common venue of Brian Lara Cricket Academy. The coin was flipped, and Captain Deandra Dottin decided to bring her player out to the field first after winning the toss in the high-stakes face-off.

The women cricketers of Barbados Royals were invited to bat first, after which Captain Hayley Matthews came out to open for her team with Chamari Athapaththu. The early success came for the Knight Riders with the fall of the first wicket of the game on the very fifth ball of the match.

Captain Hayley Matthews failed consecutively in the second match to contribute good scores and departed on the ball of Shikha Pandey. She managed to play just 5 balls and collect 4 runs on foot. Meanwhile, Chamari Athapaththu played 63 balls and added 70 runs with 10 fours.

In total, 9 players came to face the bowling of Trinbago Knight Riders, among whom only Athapaththu managed to add runs to the scoreboard for the team to reach a respectable total. The first inning concluded with 130 runs with a loss of 7 wickets in 20 overs.

As per the previous performances of Barbados Royals in WCPL 2024, the target of 131 was looking defendable. But things changed as the match proceeded to its death overs. To chase the total Captain Deandra Dottin came out to bat with Harshitha Samarawickrama.

Both openers were not able to give a stable start to Trinbago Knight Riders and departed to the pavilion with a total of 18 runs for the team. Harshitha Samarawickrama was dismissed by Hayley Matthews on the fifth ball of the second over with a score of 4 runs in 5 balls.

Just after a few dot balls later, Deandra Dottin also left the pitch on the fourth ball of the third over by Chamari Athapaththu. She faced 10 balls and scored 12 runs with 1 six in it. The Knight Riders lost 6 wickets in their inning, and among all, Jemimah Rodrigues carried the inning.

Jemimah Rodrigues entered the ground on first dawn and took the team to victory on her shoulders while other players were getting out at regular intervals. Rodrigues faced 50 balls in the inning and scored a half-century.

She collected the most, 59 runs for the team, including winning runs. After her, the second-highest personal score was 17 runs by Kycia Knight. In the last over, Rodrigues marked the victory for Trinbago Knight Riders and also a ticket to the final with a required score of 131 runs.

With the victory for Trinbago Knight Riders, Guyana Amazon Warriors fell to the bottom of the points table and also got out of the race to the WCPL 2024 final. Amazon Warriors is also the only team that failed to add the title with their name.

Trinbago Knight Riders, who were the champions of the first Women’s Caribbean Premier League, will attempt to win it again. On the other end, the Barbados Royals showed their intent from the beginning to defend the title and take the trophy home consecutively for the second time.