U-19s success a boost to women’s cricket
Anand Rampersad
Published:Guardian
Monday, June 27, 2016
T&T’s Patrina Walcott gets the throw in to Renelle Dookie as Guyanese batsman Marianne Samaroo makes her ground in the regional women’s U-19 T20 Championships last Thursday at Gilbert Park. Also in the picture are Reanna Farrow, left, and Kajol Dalgir. Photo: Shastri Boodan
Trinidad and Tobago Under-19 female cricketers have thrown down the gauntlet to their male counterparts (Under-15, 17 and 19) and senior women team to match their achievement of T20 regional champions after defeating the Windward Islands by 27 runs in the final at the NCC on Saturday.
Led by senior national player Reniece Boyce, the Under-19 team won all five games in convincing style. After recovering from losing three early wickets in the final, Kamara Ragoobar and Leandra Ramdeen led the fight back to post a match winning 101 for four wickets in 20 overs. Ragoobar playing in her last year at the Under-19 level top scored with an unbeaten 36 and was ably supported by Ramdeen who scored 28 runs. The combination of pace and spin then strangled the Windward Islands batters as they finished on 74 runs for eight wickets in their allotted 20 overs. Reanna Farrow spearheaded the bowling with 3-17 and Leandra Ramdeen chipped in with 2-8.
In addition to leading the 2016 champions, captain Boyce captured the award for most wicket keeping dismals while Kamara Ragoobar scalped the award for most wickets in the tournament.
Shania Abdool led the team’s batting with 58 runs, followed by Boyce 46, Ragoobar 41 and Ramdeen 35. The R&R (Ragoobar and Ramdeen) spin twins were efficiently supported by Farrow seven wickets for 32 runs, Renelle Dookie four for 45 runs, Mikaela Jodhan three for 29 runs and Kajol Dalgir three for 44 runs.
The national team’s victory was a positive return on the Trinidad and Tobago Women Cricket Association (TTWCA) development programme. The TTWCA has two divisions: Premiership and Championship. The Premiership Division comprises of the seasoned teams and players, while the Championship Divisions serves as a development nursery for players who have just started playing cricket and need exposure to help develop their overall skills but at the same level. Over time, some of these players have either moved with their respective teams into the Premiership or move to clubs in the Premiership.
With the exception of Kamara Ragoobar, Alia Joseph and Ariel Gajadhar, the remaining 11 members of the squad and two reserves started playing in the Championship Division. In the final squad, 12 play in the Premiership and the remaining two along with the two reserves play in the Championship Division.
The significance of this victory must be contextualised. Women’s cricket is faced with many challenges. Clubs suffer from a lack of sponsorship as they compete with their male counterparts (and other sports) for the same sponsorship and men cricket tend to gain the full support of businesses. Part of the reason for this is because cricket is still seen as a male sport and women’s cricket is not necessarily seen as serious cricket (even though the WI senior women won the ICC T20 World Cup in India, 2016).
In addition to sponsorship challenges, clubs are faced with lack of facilities to train during the week and play on weekends. Both men and women’s cricket is played during the first six months of the year. As a result of this although the fixtures for the various competitions are drawn up before the start of the season, clubs generally have to wait until the 11th hour before they know where they can play their games. Despite these challenges, the TTWCA, clubs, and their players have persevered to ensure that cricket is played for six months of the year. By the end of the season each year, a Premiership team will play a minimum of 15 matches and a possible maximum of 19 matches. In the Championship Division a team will play a minimum 12 matches and a maximum of 15 games. The TTWCA system ensures there is a constant supply of young cricketers as well as apply pressure on the senior players to keep improving their performances. The senior national after failing to win the regional title at home last year, will be expected to match the performances of their junior counterpart this year when the Senior Regional tournament is held in Guyana in July.
www.guardian.co.tt/sport/2016-06-27/u-19...en%E2%80%99s-cricket
