T20 Blaze: Mohammed, Ramnath spin T&T to 16-run win over Windwards

T&T 95 for 7 (Anisa 29*, Kirby 28, Noel 3-15) beat Windwards 79 all out (Glasgow 21, Fletcher 14, Anisa 3-10) by 16 runs  

Veteran spinner Anisa Mohammed and protégé Samara Ramnath grabbed three wickets apiece to help Trinidad and Tobago defeat the Windward Islands by 16 runs in Round 2 of Cricket West Indies’ Women’s T20 Blaze earlier on Thursday. The win gave T&T their first points of the competition while simultaneously condemning the Windwards to a second consecutive defeat. 

With 95 runs on the board, on a wicket conducive to spin, captain Karishma Ramharack tossed the new ball to Mohammed (3-10). The 37-year-old responded immediately, bowling Earnisha Fontaine for a duck with the third delivery of the innings. 

She then claimed a brilliant catch off her own bowling, diving away to her left to dismiss Zaida James (7) off the final ball of her second over, with the score at 8 for 2. 

Jannillea Glasgow and Afy Fletcher (14) then added 30 for the third wicket before the latter fell to a remarkable catch in the deep from Amelia Khan, who stuck out her right hand and plucked the ball from the air after executing a perfectly timed jump. 

With 58 needed from 79 balls, and Glasgow still at the crease, Windwards would have fancied their chances. The Vincentian put on 14 alongside Ashlene Edward (10) before the latter became Mohammed’s third victim, leaving Windwards 52 for 4. 

The pressure eventually told on Glasgow, when she was bowled by Ramharack for 21, with the required rate creeping up to 6. It was then over to Ramnath to prise out the lower-middle order. The 18-year-old was the architect of a late collapse as the Windwards lost the remaining five wickets for 21 runs to be dismissed for 79 in 19.3 overs.  

Anisa (29*) had earlier orchestrated Trinidad and Tobago’s fightback with the bat, helping them scrap their way to 95 for 7 on the back of a 67-run partnership to which Lee-Ann Kirby contributed 28. This was after Carena Noel claimed 3 for 15 to help peg T&T back at 39 for 6.