USA were crowned champions of the Cricket West Indies (CWI) Women's U19 Rising Stars T20 Championship after defeating title holders Trinidad and Tobago by seven wickets at Brian Lara Cricket Academy, Tarouba on Wednesday.
Batting first, TT were restricted to a paltry tally of 93/5 to which the visitors boldly responded with a triumphant innings of 94/3 from 16.1 overs.
This was the USA's first major U19 trophy capture and head coach Shivnarine Chanderpaul lauded the efforts of the tournament debutants, who easily outplayed TT in a one-sided contest.
'It's definitely good to see the US come out and play well. From the time we got here, they've been a team, they've been and done everything together have been working hard to improve.
'This tournament is just a start of hopefully good things to come in the future. Knowing the bunch of girls, the work ethic is really good and I'm hoping that we could keep on improving and getting better,' said the former West Indies batsman.
Sent in to bat, TT had a slow start from openers Shunelle Sawh and Samara Ramnath, as the pair put on 20 runs only in the powerplay (first six overs). USA kept both their bowling and outfield tight and restricted the TT duo from scoring consistently.
In the seventh over, Ramnath (six) was bowled (22/1) brilliantly by medium pacer Isani Vaghela, which made way for TT's innings saviour, Djenaba Joseph. Sawh (11) however, perished out caught in the next over by Lisa Ramjit.
Joseph teamed up with skipper Shalini Samaroo in the middle but USA continued to restrict the hosts as they struggled at 32/2 after 10 overs. Four runs later, Samaroo (nine) was caught and bowled by USA captain Geetika Kodali.
However, Aniaya Roberts buckled down with Joseph to build a crucial 45-run partnership which saw the duo bring life to the south crowd. The partnership was broken with Roberts on 15 as the American skipper struck again with the ball.
Joseph went on the hit four fours in her unbeaten knock of 34 while Maria La Foucade contributed nine runs to carry TT to a low score of 93/5 after their allotted 20 overs.
Kodali topped the bowling picking up 2/8.
In their turn at the crease, the US team showed why they were one of the best batting teams in the tournament as they cruised to the title led by Anika Kolan's 46 not out.
Although they lost openers Chetnaa Prasad (12) and Laasya Mullapudi (five) with just 20 runs on the board, USA schooled TT with well-timed shots and a quick strike rotation.
Kolan and Ramjit put on a 72-run stand to carry them within reach (92/3) of their first even major win but the latter was bowled by Ramnath with just two runs for victory. Snigdha Paul (one not out) and Kolan carried USA home with 23 balls remaining.
Ramnath (2/13) was TT's best bowler.
Title-winning coach Chanderpaul said the USA was seen as an underdog team in the tournament and he was happy the girls prevailed over such an active cricketing nation such as TT.
'It's obviously a step in the right direction for us and it means a lot for these gi
