WCPL 2025 Match 2 Review: Royals begin title defence with big win

The second game of the Women’s Caribbean Premier League (WCPL) saw Barbados Royals women beat Guyana Amazon Warriors by seven wickets with four balls remaining.

The match was curtailed by a floodlight failure which saw DLS come in to use. The Warriors won the toss and elected to bat first in sunny conditions at Providence.

Shemaine Campbell’s side putting on an impressive display – posting 154/4 in their twenty overs with Realeanna Grimmond starring for the Warriors with 61 off 57 balls to score her maiden WCPL fifty and post the first half century by any player in this year’s competition.

The Royals set about the target with gusto; their top order of Chamari Athapanthtu (29 off 24) Qiana Joseph (22 off 22) and Georgia Redmayne (33 off 29) gave them a solid foundation on which to haul in the adjusted target of 137 from 18 overs.

With Royals on 87-3 at the start of the thirteenth over after Courtney Webb was bowled by Laura Harris for just six runs, the match was evenly poised heading into the final stages.

Enter Royals skipper Chinelle Henry who blitzed 37 off 19 balls with two fours and four sixes to ace the chase for her side. The win sees the Royals leapfrog the Warriors to the top of the table on NRR and with a game in hand.

It’s early days in the competition but the sides in this year’s WCPL look evenly matched and tough to split so far.