Sacha Starblazers crowned inaugural Courts Twenty20 queens

Skipper Leeann Kirby smashed her way to a glorious unbeaten 50, powering her team to the title and the trophy along with the $15,000 first prize from Roger Rambharose, Commercial Director of Unicomer Courts Trinidad Limited.

Kirby, a former West Indies player, displayed her wonderful all-round talent and pulverised the Titans bowlers in a fine exhibition of power-hitting that lasted 34 balls and featured two towering sixes and five blistering fours in a match-winning effort in the first-ever T20 franchise tournament for women in the Caribbean.

Kirby had earlier won the toss and invited the TECU Southern Titans to bat first on a pitch that was well-rolled but devoid of grass.

The Starblazers captain led from the front and opened the attack from the Southern end and was miserly in her first three overs that yielded only eight runs with the wicket of Trinidad and Tobago’s opener Shenelle Lord who was caught by wicketkeeper Jervina Pollucksingh.

Lord emerged as her team’s top scorer with 22 runs that included four fours off 18 deliveries while Kirby finished with two for 14 from her four overs.

The Titans struggled against Grenada’s leg spinner Afy Fletcher (3/12) and TT’s junior spinner Rosemary Samaroo (3/11) who did most of the damage. Those spells prove decisive as TECU Titans crawled to 103 for eight in their allotted 20 overs.

Set a victory target of 104, Sacha Starblazers lost early wickets and were 18 for two after 6.3 overs. Opener Rachel Vincent was adjudged LBW to Peters for three while Jamaican Chedean Nation was smartly stumped by Merissa Aguilleira off Lord for duck.

However, the experienced Amanda Samaroo stroked three fours off 23 balls before she offered Lord a return catch which was gleefully accepted. At 35 for three in 8.4 overs, the Starblazers were slightly behind the Titans at the same stage.

However, 30-year-old Kirby, who hails from Arima, found a valuable partner in Fletcher and together they rallied the Sacha Northern Starblazers to a historic victory that was achieved and celebrated with much gusto by the players and merry band of supporters that included Kama Maharaj, managing director of Sacha Cosmetics, the main sponsor for the newly-crowned champions. With her knock and two wickets to her name, Kirby was deservedly voted “Player of the Match”.

The Titans were surprisingly lacklustre compared to their previously confident and energetic selves perhaps drained from their exertions the previous night when they fought bravely to edge out the same rivals in the final round robin match contested at the Munroe Road recreation ground.

Kirby, speaking to Newsday, attributed her team’s victory to excellent teamwork, being humble and focussed. She said: “We played with a lot of team spirit and decided to fight from the start. I told the players to remain humble but be totally focussed on our goals. Usually we set team goals and get all our players to understand what we have to do to achieve those goals. So I wish to give special credit to all the players in our team who fought harder than before. To win the title is a special feeling which we will cherish.” Kirby, who totalled 111 runs and claimed five wickets in the tournament, was named “Player of the Series” and took home a SmartTV donated by the tournament’s title sponsor Unicomer Courts Trinidad Limited. Kirby also collected a cosmetics hamper from her team’s main sponsor, Sacha Cosmetics. Lord, with 10 wickets in the competition, managed to stop Kirby’s clean sweep of individual awards