Aaliyah Alleyne Shines in Barbados Royals' Victory at Massy Women’s Caribbean Premier League Final

Aaliyah Alleyne celebrated her return to the West Indies team with career-best bowling for the Barbados Royals on Thursday afternoon, in the final of the Massy Women’s Caribbean Premier League. The defending champions defeated the Trinbago Knight Riders by four wickets, to lift their second consecutive title.

29-year-old pacer Alleyne became the third Barbados player in a row to be named player of the match in the WCPL final, after Deandra Dottin in 2022, and Hayley Matthews in 2023. Trinbago were held to just 93-8 at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Tarouba, Trinidad & Tobago, a target the Royals overhauled with 30 balls to spare.

The Royals and Knight Riders had split their two games in the preliminary round, the latter fixture qualifying the 2022 champions to the title game.

For the first time, Royals captain Matthews called the toss correctly, and she put Trinbago in to bat. Her decision paid off in spades.

TKR captain Dottin took a maximum off the fifth ball of the innings, dispatching Chinelle Henry beyond the boundary. But four deliveries later, she was bowled by Matthews without adding to her score.

Henry struck in the third over, taking Jemimah Rodrigues for two, and leaving TKR 10-2. Jannillea Glasgow and Shikha Pandey orchestrated a mini recovery, taking the Knight Riders to 47 at the halfway mark with no further loss.

But then began the Aaliyah Alleyne Show. She had Glasgow caught for 24 with her first ball of the innings, in an over that yielded just two runs.

In her next over, Qiana Joseph had Jess Jonassen run out for six, then Alleyne bowled Pandey for 28. That turned out to be the top scorer in the TKR innings.

In the 16th over, her third, Alleyne bowled both Chedean Nation and Zaida James, each contributing one run to the cause. Alleyne ended with 4-21, the first West Indies bowler to take four wickets in a WCPL fina, and the second-best figures by a pacer in the three-year history of the competition.

TKR were in further distress when Shamilia Connell was bowled by Matthews for two. Kycia Knight hit a quickfire 17 to end the innings on a flourish, but 93-8 never looked like a winning score.

The relatively early wicket of Matthews and a clutch of late dismissals did little to slow the Royals’ march to victory. They hit 12 fours, twice as many as TKR, and Sri Lanka’s Chamari Athapaththu herself had seven boundaries.

By the seventh over, when the Royals captain was caught by Dottin for 13 off the bowling of teenager Samara Ramnath, the score was already 48. Ahtapaththu had hit 31 from 25 balls.