West Indies Cricket Fans

After the world cup win I believe the ladies deserve much more coverage around the region so I've decided to provide the scores from the women's domestic season here for all of you skunts to see .

The season starts this month in Guyana and it's historic as both the ODI and T20 formats will be played back to back when previously it was either one or the other. Plus for the very first time Winwards and Leewards will have female teams playing under their banner along with Jamaica, Trinidad, Guyana and reigning champions Barbados.

CONFIRMED SQUADS

Leewards

Shawnisha Hector, Amanda Edwards, Jenison Richards, Terez Parker, Eldora Sylvester, Grace Persaud, Sherma Jackson, Sanelda Willett, Melissa Clarke, Rozel Liburd, Kimberly Doohan, Kerisha Powell, Jasmine Clarke and Elisha Claxton.

Winwards

Swayline William, Roylin Cooper, Nerissa Crafton, Yasmine St Ange, Qiana Joseph, Afy Fletcher, Holly Charles, Akira Peters, Rackel Candis, Juliana Nero, Glendeen Turtin, Stacy-Ann Adams. Rosilia Registe and Krishani Irish.

Trinidad

Merissa Aguilleira, Anisa Mohammed, Felicia Walters, Amanda Samaroo, Britney Cooper, Shenelle Lord, Stacy Ann King, Reniece Boyce, Kirbyina Alexander, Lee Ann Kirby, Karishma Ramharack, Rachael Vincent, Rosalie Dollabaille, Selene O’Neil

Jamaica

Stafanie Taylor, Chedean Nation, Shanel Daley, Tameka Sanford, Natasha McLean, Jodian Morgan, Vanessa Watts, Roshana Outar, Alecia Bookal, Chinelle Henry, Jerona Walcott, Keneshia Ferron, Rashada Williams and Corrine Howell.

Reserves: Karla Cohen, Priscilla Wilson, Sherene Burnett, Trudy Ann Mullings

Barbados

Aaliyah Alleyne, Shamilia Connell, Deandra Dottin, Kelia Elliott, Alison Gordon, Krystal Harewood, Melissa Howard, Kycia Knight, Hayley Matthews, Shaquana Quintyne, Shakira Selman, Charlene Taitt, Shanna Thompson, Tiffany Thorpe.

Guyana's squad hasn't been announced yet but this what it will most likely be

LCA Toussaint, MC Henry, KK Mentore , SA Campbelle, K Yadram, M Mangru, TD Smartt, SL Munroe, EM Giddings, PO Millington, AP Thompson, H Singh, J Ogle, Shabika Gajnabi

NOTES:

This really is an exciting time for women's cricket in the region. The most compelling thing for me is seeing how the Leewards side does in this competition because the truth is the Leewards region had been shut out of women's cricket in the Caribbean since it's inception. Everything has been dominated by firstly Jamaica who used to play international cricket alone. Then Trinidad got their acts together and now Barbados are extremely strong. The Winwards playing together is interest too because to prop up the competition they used to play as single islands i.e Dominica, St Lucia etc but in truth they used to get slaughtered by the bigger teams so to see them all together now should be interesting.

For years the women's domestic scene was dominated by Jamaica. Infact they were pretty much like the men until everything changed last season when Barbados won the championship. This season I'm expecting things to be tightly contested between Barbados, Trinidad and Jamaica tbh.

Jamaica= Have Stafanie Taylor who imo is the best female player in the world. Mcclean, Morgan and Henry are reliable batters at domestic level too with Mcclean and Henry both having international experience. Daley is also an international with good quality.

Trinidad= ~Have a lot of class in both the batting and bowling. Cooper, Merrissa, Mohammed and King were all part of the World cup winning team. Walters is a very decent opening batter and Karishma is a talented spinner who is around the West Indies squad herself.

Barbados= It's no surprise that they won the title last time because they've got two of the best female players in the world in Matthews and Dottin. Connell has genuine pace and also plays for WI...Quintyne is an big talent with both bat and ball and was also in the world cup winning side while Knight and Selman are internationals as well. And to top it off Alleyne has been scoring runs in the English women's league too. For me they will be hard to beat when you consider they've got half the WI team in their side.

Winwards= Crafton and Joseph are the ones everyone is talking about and they are 17 and 15 respectively. Both have already been around the West Indies squad as well. St Ange is also said to be talented. Irish from what I hear is a major pace talent and they've also got Fletcher who is a spinner for WI. I hope they can spring some surprises against the bigger teams.

Leewards= I have no idea about any of the players. What is good though is the Leewards board held a women's tournament over the last few weeks and the scores were encouraging. This is gonna be all of these players debuts at this level so it's probably a big ask to expect much from them but I'm hoping we'll see two or three stand-out performers. Amanda Edwards is said to be an exciting players so we'll see.

Guyana= West Indies player Campbell is their best batter by far and will tasked with getting plenty of runs for them again this season. Yadram has shown glimpses but is not consistent enough. Smartt is also a WI player and is one of the best pacers in the region. While Munro also has international experience. Mangru is only 16 and though her batting needs to improve she managed to take some wickets last season. The intriguing name for me is Shabika Gajnabi. It hasn't been confirmed that she's in the squad yet but I'd be extremely shocked if she wasn't. The girls u19 competition just finished a week ago and she stood out massively with the bat. Infact one could argue that she was more consistent than world class star Haley Matthews!!..so I expect to see her alongside Campbell in that middle order and hopefully that will give Guyana a much more solid top order to build from.

The West Indies women's team are flying at the moment but there' still a few positions I think they could improve on so hopefully a few new players will put their hands up this season.

Was gonna do a match by match analysis but the one day competition proved to be a disaster. Most of the games rained off with only three or four able to be played. In the end Trinidad, who only played one game, won the competition by default as the final between them and Barbados was also rained off.

The t20 competition though went by with not too many problems and this time Trinidad deservedly won the title, beating Jamaica in a very exciting final at Providence.

Leewards in their first season were really struggling tbh. They lost all their games but it's no surprise as most of their team is made up of rookies or women who are new to the sport. They did have a few stand-out performers though and none more so than 17 year old pacer Shawnisha Hector. She apparently plays for a mens team in Antigua and by all accounts her pace was very impressive. Genuine pace in the women's game is rare. Shamilia Connell who is tall and has pace is doing well for WI now after a poor start. She doesn't have a consistent partner to share the new-ball with though and I've got a feeling Hector might be featuring for WI very soon.

Winwards were also on the end of some hammerings but then again they are also a newly formed team. Although most of them have played a lot of games at this level I think they just need to gel together more to really make a challenge in the future. Akeira Peters stood out with both bat and ball and had a very decent season indeed. She's a lefty too so she's another that I think should be looked at by the selectors. The 15 year old Quina Joseph was inconsistent. Got a 32 and took a wicket in one of the early games and then was 16 not out in a later game but in-between there were some poor scores. She's heading in the right direction though and I think in time she'll be with WI.

Guyana were also victims of the "big three" but they at least put up a fight against them. Campbell was a sensation and scored runs in most of the matches which culminated in her getting the most runs in the competition. Toussaint hit her first 50 in domestic cricket and as she's an opener that bodes well. While 18 year off spinner Millington had her best season to date by consistently getting wickets.

Barbados, having virtually half of the West Indies side in their team including world class talent like Dottin and Matthews, somehow didn't make it to the final after failing to beat Jamaica. Matthews wasn't at her best and Dottin was in and out too. Quintyne continues to impress with bat and ball though and I see her being an even bigger asset for WI moving forward

Jamaica done well to get to the final because Barbados are such a talented side. But they got there and of course their skipper and perhaps the best female player in the world, Stafani Taylor, lead the way with both bat and ball. In the final Taylor for once never fired and they were in big trouble early but a great partnership between Henry and Sandford got them to 100/8. Henry has been on the fringes of the WI team for a while and has even played a few games. To me she has all the talent to go all the way...her 25 not out was played under pressure and she looked class to me.

Trinidad...well another team with half the world cup winning side. They were in big trouble early and really even in the 18th over it looked like Jamaica's trophy but they rallied late and a big six sealed the win in the end. World class spinner Mohammed did a lot of damage with the ball and with Trinidad having a fine women's domestic system it's no surprise that they won.

All in all it was a bitter, sweet season for the women because the t20 competition was good but the one day comp was a farce!!..And I've let the powers that be know that.