The Berbice senior female team have been a dominant force in the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) Superbet senior female tournament as they took a comfortable seven-wicket win against Demerara in the final round.
After the match, the team’s Coach, Winston Smith, expressed his satisfaction with the team’s all-round efforts. “I have been working with female players for over 15 years and I am happy to be associated with the GCB, and I am also happy that I led the Berbice female team to [their] seventh consecutive win,” he declared.
Smith was impressed with the young players coming through the ranks, from all three counties. The Cricket West Indies (CWI) Level Three Coach was also impressed with Shabika Gajnabi’s brilliance. “Over the years, she has been very committed and dedicated. She has gone on and done well; she made 215 in a rain-affected match and come out not out in the final against Demerara. Last year, she was U-19 and she led the U-19 team by defeating Demerara. She has now made the West Indies and I just wish her all the best to keep working hard,” Smith said.
He is also hoping that young players follow in her footsteps and be selected at the highest level. Berbice’s opening round against the Select U-19 was affected by rain, with Gajnabi starring with an unbeaten 215, while the veteran Tremayne Smartt scored an unbeaten 64.
In the second match, left-arm spinner Dian Prahalad grabbed a five-wicket haul as Berbice routed Essequibo 35 all out and took a 10-wicket victory. In the third and final round, Plaffianna Millington took four wickets in a Player-of-the-Match effort to restrict Demerara to 104 all out. In reply, skipper Gajnabi led the charge with an unbeaten half-century.
The Regional Women’s tournament will be played in Guyana later this month. Guyana’s team will be announced on March 13, and that unit will be encamped shortly after. They will be under the watchful eyes of Coach Rayon Griffith, who is fresh from a coaching stint as West Indies Women Assistant Coach in the International Cricket Council (ICC) Women’s World Cup. (Brandon Corlette)
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