The Tri-Nation Twenty20 Women's Series concluded a month ago in the Caribbean with the West Indies winning the tournament convincingly. Deandra Dottin was awarded the player of the series for her explosive batting. But amidst a rising West Indies Team we were fortunate to witness a new star player coming into her own, seventeen year old Shaquana Quintyne. I learned a lot from watching her bowl and it was a joy to see that fire in her belly and that desire to want to be the best.
Shaquana is quite an enigma! On the one hand she’s only seventeen and yet has the maturity of a bowler far beyond her years. She’s not a big turner of the ball but what she does really well is stick to the basics. It explains why her captains Merissa Aguilleira and Stephanie Taylor showed immense faith in her and gave her the ball in high pressure situations like the super over against England despite having more experienced bowling options at hand. Conditions weren’t ideal for bowlers; it’s never easy bowling with a wet ball but Shaquana showed us precisely how it’s done. She didn’t try anything fancy. All she kept bowling was her standard stock ball delivery making sure that the ball was pitched up to the batsmen while waiting on them to make the mistake and that’s exactly what happened. She couldn’t have scripted the story any better.
It was also impressive to see her take charge of her field; she knew exactly where she wanted to position each fielder and she successfully bowled to her field. Leg spinners have traditionally been expensive but they’re valuable because they generally get wickets. But for a leg spinner, Shaquana sure is stingy. If you misfield while she’s bowling, she will give you the glare even if you’re a senior player on the team.
It was a great tournament for Shaquana. She got 8 wickets in 5 games of top quality batsmen and that 5 wicket haul against England was the icing on the cake. To have that level of confidence at such a young age in a game where confidence eludes even the most experienced players from time to time is pretty amazing. Her exuberance shone through her speech at the post match presentation; “hard luck England” she went on to say as West Indies brought home the championship much to the delight of the home crowd.
Shaquana, the world is yours to conquer! Go on and show us how it’s done!
Shaquana is quite an enigma! On the one hand she’s only seventeen and yet has the maturity of a bowler far beyond her years. She’s not a big turner of the ball but what she does really well is stick to the basics. It explains why her captains Merissa Aguilleira and Stephanie Taylor showed immense faith in her and gave her the ball in high pressure situations like the super over against England despite having more experienced bowling options at hand. Conditions weren’t ideal for bowlers; it’s never easy bowling with a wet ball but Shaquana showed us precisely how it’s done. She didn’t try anything fancy. All she kept bowling was her standard stock ball delivery making sure that the ball was pitched up to the batsmen while waiting on them to make the mistake and that’s exactly what happened. She couldn’t have scripted the story any better.
It was also impressive to see her take charge of her field; she knew exactly where she wanted to position each fielder and she successfully bowled to her field. Leg spinners have traditionally been expensive but they’re valuable because they generally get wickets. But for a leg spinner, Shaquana sure is stingy. If you misfield while she’s bowling, she will give you the glare even if you’re a senior player on the team.
It was a great tournament for Shaquana. She got 8 wickets in 5 games of top quality batsmen and that 5 wicket haul against England was the icing on the cake. To have that level of confidence at such a young age in a game where confidence eludes even the most experienced players from time to time is pretty amazing. Her exuberance shone through her speech at the post match presentation; “hard luck England” she went on to say as West Indies brought home the championship much to the delight of the home crowd.
Shaquana, the world is yours to conquer! Go on and show us how it’s done!