Rodrigues rides luck, sends TKR into WCPL final

TRINBAGO Knight Riders (TKR) women’s team advanced to the final of the 2024 Massy Women’s Caribbean Premier League (WCPL) tournament in dramatic fashion on August 27 when they got a nail-biting four-wicket win over defending champions Barbados Royals with just two balls to spare at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy, Tarouba.

Similar to their previous game against the Guyana Amazon Warriors on August 25, TKR needed a win to stay alive in the competition. Facing a Royals team that had already clinched a spot in the final after winning three straight games in the three-team tourney, it took an unbeaten knock of 59 from Indian allrounder Jemimah Rodrigues and sloppy catching from the opposition to usher the hosts into the August 29 final.

TKR skipper Deandra Dottin won her first toss of the tournament and sent the Royals in to have first strike.

The game started perfectly for TKR as Royals skipper and star player Hayley Matthews was out caught behind for four off the fifth ball of the match from Shikha Pandey (two for 26).

The Royals lost two more wickets in the power play and crawled to 49 for three by the ten-over mark, but an impressive knock of 70 from Sri Lankan allrounder Chamari Athapaththu helped them get to a competitive score of 130 for seven.

Sixteen-year-old TKR spinner Samara Ramnath led the attack with two for 20, with seamer Shamilia Connell, who was playing her first game of the tournament, also taking two wickets.

TKR had a fiery start as Dottin (12) helped them take 14 off the first over from Aaliyah Alleyne (one for 28). The hosts began to wobble, though, as Dottin and fellow opener Harshitha Samarawickrama (four) were dismissed in quick succession to leave them on 18 for two in the third over.

Batting at number three, Rodrigues got stuck in for the TKR cause as she shared useful partnerships with Jess Jonassen (11), Chedean Nation (14) and Kycia Knight (17) to bring the hosts within touching distance.

When Knight was dismissed by Alleyne in the 18th over, TKR were placed on 111 for five and still required 20 from 15 balls as Pandey strode to the middle.

Dropped on ten and 43 respectively by the youthful pair of Trishan Holder and Djenaba Joseph, the 23-year-old Rodrigues brought her team closer to the target when she scored eight of the ten runs in the penultimate over which was bowled by Qiana Joseph.

TKR needed six to get off the last over, with Matthews, the leading allrounder in the women’s game, standing in the way.

Pandey was run out off the very first ball of the last over by wicket-keeper Rashada Williams, but Rodrigues showed her innovation when she scooped Matthews to the fine-leg boundary for four off the third ball, before hitting the winning run off the very next ball.

From 3 pm on August 29, TKR and the Royals will lock horns again in a battle between the 2022 and 2023 WCPL champions.

Summarised scores:

BARBADOS ROYALS: 130/7 from 20 overs (Chamari Athapaththu 70; Samara Ramnath 2/20, Shamilia Connell 2/25) vs TKR: 131/6 from 19.4 overs (Jemimah Rodrigues 59 not out, Kycia Knight 17; C Athapaththu 2/24, Hayley Matthews 1/19). TKR won by four wickets.

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