Trinidad and Tobago's (T&T) women cricketers defied St Lucia - and the rains - to lift the West Indies Women Cricket Federation regional tournament league title in Barbados. Stacy Ann King and Anisa Mohammed played star roles in the victory at the Passage Road Ground. King hit a robust half-century to take T&T's total to 213 in 48.3 overs, before Mohammed wrecked St Lucia's innings, which ended 33 runs short of the revised target.
St Lucia followed the tournament trend by winning the toss and asking T&T to bat. King responded by blasting 83, and T&T also had useful contributions from Devika Singh, who scored 22, captain Marissa Aguillera (17), as well as Gaitri Seetahal, who remained unbeaten on 24. Naralee Cooper took 4 for 35 off ten overs for St Lucia while her sister, Roylin Cooper, took 2 for 33.
In reply, St Lucia stumbled to 49 for 3 after 14 overs, when rain interrupted the innings. Aguillera and Co would have been hoping desperately for the weather to clear, with the other two fixtures of the day - Barbados v Grenada and Jamaica v St Vincent and the Grenadines - being washed out.
T&T had already failed to complete two matches due to inclement weather. In their first outing against Jamaica, T&T batted but were awarded a point after rain flooded the outfield. A day later, T&T were unable to take the field after the weather ruined their match against Barbados. But with successive victories against defending champs St Vincent and Grenada, they were level on points with Barbados going into today's match. The bad weather meant only a win would ensure them the title. This time, the elements were on their side.
St Lucia resumed their innings and were still in contention to pull off an upset at 116 for 6. However, Mohammed's figures of 5 for 26, and Gaitri Seetahal's 2 for 26, made sure there was no repeat of 2004, when T&T narrowly lost out on the title to hosts St Vincent, after suffering two rained-out matches. St Lucia folded for 138, chasing the revised target of 171. Swaylyn Williams top scored with 30 while West Indies batsman Nadine George (22) and Purner Thomas, who scored 20, also gave good support.
T&T and Barbados will both enjoy a bye today, while the other four teams play for the other two semi-final spots in the knockout phase of the competition.