Photo Credit: Cricket West Indies
The CG United Women’s Super50 Cup and T20 Blaze are set to entertain cricket fans in St. Kitts starting Monday, showcasing the Caribbean’s top female cricket talent. The Super50 Cup, spanning from 4 to 25 March, will unfold across three venues: Warner Park, the Conaree Cricket Centre, and St. Paul’s Sports Complex. These 50-over matches promise to deliver high-quality cricket, starting at 10am local time, setting the stage for exciting competition among the participating teams.
Adding to the excitement, the T20 Blaze will captivate audiences from 17 to 25 March at Warner Park, featuring a full itinerary of matches under the dazzling lights. With three matches daily at 10am, 2:30pm, and 7pm, fans are guaranteed non-stop action and entertainment.
Barbados, under the leadership of Kycia Knight, enters as the defending champions in both formats, aiming to uphold their title against formidable opponents such as the Trinidad & Tobago Divas, Guyana, Jamaica, Windward Islands, and hosts Leeward Islands. However, Barbados will face the challenge without their star player and captain, Hayley Matthews, who will be participating in the Women’s Premiere League in India. Knight, embracing the responsibility, emphasizes the need for the team to play quality cricket and for younger players to seize the opportunity to shine in Matthews’ absence.
Knight said:
“I’m definitely looking forward to leading Barbados this year. It is always a privilege to lead your country in any aspect. There is always pressure coming into a tournament. Last year is behind us, I think we just need to come into this tournament looking to play quality cricket and let the results take care of themselves. Not having Hayley Matthews this season is a big loss in any team, I don’t think that any one person can fill what Hayley brings to the team, but I think it’s a great opportunity for younger players to step up and the senior players to continue doing what we did over the last couple seasons. We played the T20 aspect with all her last season and we still came out on top, but we also be missing three other players from last season so this year we’re definitely gonna need everyone to step up as much as possible if we’re going to retain the titles.”
On the other hand, the Trinidad and Tobago Divas, captained by Britney Cooper, boast a young and eager squad. Cooper, taking pride in her role, aims to blend her learnings from past captains with her own style, encouraging her team to play freely and enjoy the game. This approach is hoped to rejuvenate the Divas and position them as strong contenders for the trophy.
Cooper said:
“It is a great honour to be the skipper of for Trinidad and Tobago and I’m very excited about this opportunity. I have played under some really really good captains in the past and I’m going to put all that I learned and integrate into my captaincy style. We have a really young team this year. I know expectations are high from a lot of people because they are seen as the next generation of women’s cricket in the Caribbean. I’ve always asked of them is to just go there and be free, play free cricket and have fun, because a lot of youngsters forget to have fun when they go out there to play cricket, because expectations from friends or family are really high. I believe we have a young team this year and this team is one to rebuild the Divas as we have lost some very good cricketers those who are retired and those who have moved on to other aspect of cricket in the region, but this group of girls they excited, they are hungry, they see what women’s cricket have to offer not only in the Caribbean and internationally and I’m really really excited to see them go out there and showcase the talent and bring back a trophy to Trinidad and Tobago.”
Fans can attend all the matches for free and all matches will be streamed live with commentary on the Windies Cricket YouTube channel, along with live scorecards and ball-by-ball scoring on the windiescricket.com match centre.
FULL MATCH SCHEDULE
CG United Super50 Cup – play starts at 10am
Round 1: Monday 4 March
Leeward Islands vs Guyana
Barbados vs Jamaica
Trinidad & Tobago Divas vs Windward Islands
Round 2: Wednesday 6 March
Leeward Islands vs Jamaica
Guyana vs Windward Islands
Trinidad & Tobago Divas vs Barbados
Round 3: Friday 8 March
Trinidad & Tobago Divas vs Jamaica
Guyana vs Barbados
Windward Islands vs Leeward Islands
Round 4: Monday 11 March
Jamaica vs Windward Islands
Guyana vs Trinidad & Tobago Divas
Barbados vs Leeward Islands
Round 5: Wednesday 13 March
Trinidad & Tobago Divas vs Leeward Islands
Jamaica vs Guyana
Barbados vs Windward Islands
Name of Author: Cricket West Indies
Cricket West Indies (CWI) governs cricket across the West Indies, a confederation of Caribbean countries. Originally established as the West Indies Cricket Board of Control in the 1920s, it became the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) in 1996 and was rebranded as Cricket West Indies in May 2017 as part of a restructuring effort.
