WCPL 2024: Deandra Dottin saves hope for former champions

The team of Trinbago Knight Riders, under the captaincy of Deandra Dottin, won its first match in the Women’s Caribbean Primer League 2024. Captain Dottin played a crucial inning in getting her team to victory and keeping their chances alive to qualify for the final stage.

The third edition of the T20 WCPL 2024 is being hosted at Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Trinidad and Tobago. The match against the women of Guyana Amazon Warriors was the fourth of the season and the third for Trinbago Knight Riders out of four fixtures.

The match was crucial for the Trinbago team to maintain their race for the finals stage. A loss would have resulted in the straight elimination of the team, as they had already lost their first two matches. On the other hand, for Amazon Warriors, this was a chance to ensure their spot in the finals.

The match was initiated with the toss, which was won by Captain Lauren Winfield Hill for Guyana Amazon Warriors. Lauren decided to bowl first and asked Captain Deandra Dottin to bat first. The decision was a result of a previous match where the Warriors won by chasing.

To open the inning for Trinbago Knight Riders, Captain Deandra Dottin came to the pitch along with Sri Lankan cricketer Harshitha Samarawickrama. The inning was started on a good pace, and the opening pair collected 66 runs for the first wickets till Harshitha was dismissed by Chloe Tryon.

After the fall of the first Harshitha Samarawickrama at a personal score of 18 runs, the wickets kept falling consistently. Deandra Dottin faced 38 balls in her inning and scored a half-century with the help of 6 boundaries and 3 sixes.

Captain Dottin remained the highest run scorer of the inning for Trinbago Knight Riders, with a score of 53 runs and a strike rate of 139.47. She left the ground on Erin Burns’s delivery on the last ball of the tenth over at the team’s total of 74 runs.

After opening the pair, middle-order batting collapsed completely, and no one was able to collect good runs for Trinbago Knight Riders. Shikha Pandey and Kycia Knight took a stance and delayed the fall of wickets for the time while scoring 25 runs in 24 balls and 16 runs in 22 balls, respectively.

In total, 8 bowlers handled the ball for Guyana Amazon Warriors. With the help of the captain’s inning by Deandra Dottin, the team managed to touch the mark of 128 runs after a loss of 8 wickets in 20 overs.

To chase the target of 129 runs, Captain Lauren Winfield Hill arrived on the pitch along with Sheneta Grimmond for Guyana Amazon Warriors. Deandra Dottin, being aware of the team’s condition on the points table, suffered her bowlers in a manner that created issues for opponents to score.

Captain Dottin used her 6 bowlers in dedicated 20 overs and managed to stop the opponents from scoring winning runs. The Amazon Warriors team was stopped at 128 runs after a loss of 5 wickets, and the scores were tied.

The Australian woman cricketer, Erin Burns, scored 61 runs in 50 balls with the help of 6 fours while chasing. She got run out in an effort to make the last winning run for the team. As the scores were equated, the match went to the first super over of the WCPL 2024.

The women batsmen of Trinbago Knight Riders came out to play the super over first and scored 19 runs in 6 balls. The deciding over was played by Deandra Dottin, along with Jemimah Rodrigues, against the bowler, Shabnim Ismail, and set a target of 20 runs.

Deandra Dottin also played as captain for the win of her team and scored 13 runs in 4 balls withy 2 sixes. Rodrigues played 2 balls and collected 6 runs with a six in 2 balls. In answer, Guyana Amazon Warriors managed to score just 5 runs after loss of 2 wickets against Jess Jonassen.

The face-off ended with a win for Trinbago Knight Riders, and Deandra Dottin was honored with a Player of the Match Award. The team has already lost two matches against Guyana Amazon Warriors and Barbados Royals.

The fourth and last match of the league for Trinbago Knight Riders is set against Barbados Royals. This match is neccessary for the team to win in order to make it in the final of WCPL 2024. The result of the next match for Guyana Amazon Warriors will also impact Trinbago’s position.