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DEFENDING Massy Women's Caribbean Premier League (WCPL) champions Trinbago Knight Riders fell to their second straight loss to start the 2023 season, as they succumbed to a 21-run loss versus Guyana Amazon Warriors at the Queen's Park Oval, St Clair on Tuesday.
Set a 133-run target by captain Stafanie Taylor's Warriors outfit, Deandra Dottin and her TKR team were restricted to a score of 111 for 9 in front of their home fans, handing the Warriors their first win in three games.
Playing in her first game of WCPL 2023, Dottin surprisingly strode to the crease at the number five position as she tried to steer her team to victory. Dottin came to the crease with her team on 46 for two in the tenth over, after Warriors' TT off-spinner Karishma Ramharack (two for 16) removed Kycia Knight (19).
At that stage, TKR needed 87 runs off the last 63 balls to get their maiden win of the season, but things didn't improve as Ramharack effected a double strike in the over by seeing the back of a struggling Lee-Ann Kirby (eight).
Dottin, who top-scored with a typically aggressive knock of 35 from 19 balls, lost partners steadily. Mignon du Preez (eight) and Kyshona Knight (two) were dismissed in the 13th and 14th overs respectively, while Britney Cooper (five) was comprehensively bowled by 21-year-old Indian spinner Shreyanka Patil (two for 15) in the 16th over.
By the start of the 17th over, TKR were precariously poised on 86 for 6, needing 47 runs off the last 24 balls. Dottin decided to take on Player of the Match winner Sophie Devine (two for 27) in the 17th, and the fate of the game was ultimately decided in the over.
Dottin spanked the seamer for a six over long-on before getting a fortuitous boundary off the next ball. However, Devine and the Warriors had the last laugh as Dottin fended a bouncer to wicket-keeper Shermaine Campbelle.
Dottin fell with the score on 98 for seven, and her TKR team folded meekly thereafter, adding just 11 runs to their total to hand the Warriors a comfortable 21-run win.
Winning the toss and batting first, the Amazon Warriors women were bowled out for a modest score of 132, just one ball shy of their full 20-over quota.
In-form New Zealand batter, Devine, backed up her scores of 103 not out and 42 in the opening two matches vs Barbados Royals women, as she top-scored with a polished 48 off 39 balls.
Devine found worthy partners in the form of fellow opener Suzie Bates (16) and captain Stafanie Taylor (32 off 29 balls), as the Warriors started the innings smartly. Bates and Devine shared an opening partnership of 36 before the former was dismissed by seamer Shamilia Connell (one for 20) who bowled steadily for TKR in the power play.
Devine and Taylor then threatened to bat the hosts out of the game with their second-wicket partnership, scoring a flurry of boundaries in the 56-run stand. Devine, who looked particularly menacing in her knock as she crashed four boundaries and a six in her innings, was the first of Anisa Mohammed's four wickets.
As she approached what would have been a deserved fifty in the 13th over, Devine was caught on the long-off boundary by Connell as he tried go for a big six. With the Warriors well poised on 92 for two at that stage, they had an almighty slip, losing their last eight wickets for just 40 runs.
The veteran off-spinner Mohammed was critical in the Warriors' slide, accounting for the additional scalps of Shermaine Campbelle (seven), Natasha McLean (12) and Shreyanka Patil (three) as she finished with the impressive figures of four for 28 - her best WCPL figures to date.
TKR's Marie Kelly, who was struck for 18 runs in her first over as Bates and Devine turned up the heat in the power play, also aided the fightback with the ball - claiming figures of four for 30 in her four-over spell. The English spinner rebounded smartly from her expensive first over as she would strike with the first ball of the 16th, getting the prized wicket of the set Taylor with a ball that kept extremely low on the Oval surface.
With the loss of Taylor's wicket, the Warriors were placed on 122 for 4. However, they would add just ten runs for the remainder of their innings as the tandem of Kelly and Mohammed tore apart their middle and lower order.
Shabika Gajnabi (four), Sheneta Grimmond (five) and Shabnim Ismail (duck) all fell cheaply to Kelly in quick succession, with the latter falling to an absolutely stunning one-handed catch on the long-on boundary by du Preez.
In the end, the Warriors' modest score of 132 turned out to be enough as Ramharack and the spinners upstaged the defending champs who have now dropped a second straight game.
TKR women will meet the unbeaten Royals team at the same Oval venue from 2.30 pm today.
The post TKR Women suffer 21-run loss to Amazon Warriors appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.