For the first time in 12 years, the Cayman Islands national women’s cricket team competed internationally, with a bronze medal performance during the South American Women’s Championships.
The tournament, held in Poços de Caldas, Brazil, featured Cayman playing Mexico, Argentina and host Brazil in elite level games over the course of four days.
Cricket captain for Cayman, Sandra Johnson, told the Compass that, considering her team’s inexperience, especially at the international level, she was pleased with the final results.
“As a captain, I am so, so proud,” Johnson said. “This is a great accomplishment.”
It’s a great start to what Johnson believes will be a bright future for women’s cricket in Cayman.
“Most of the ladies only started playing cricket for the first time, three months ago,” she said. “We have a young cricketer [Jasmine Frederick], she’s only 12; that’s the face of Cayman Cricket for women right there.”
Argentina were the eventual winners over runner-up Brazil , with Cayman taking third after defeating Mexico by four runs.
“Playing that high level of cricket, it was amazing; playing against Argentina, Brazil, these women don’t work, they get paid to play and we went up against them and did well; Brazil could not bowl us out.”
But to continue international competition and, by extension, face off against the world’s best teams, Johnson admitted that government funding is crucial.
“This means a lot to us and what we want to come from this, is for the minister of sports to play a more important part in women’s cricket, especially funding,” she said, noting that will allow for more young people to get involved and elevate Cayman’s international profile in the sport.
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There is now an annual cricket tournament for all European countries, and it’s pleasing to see it has also spread to South America. We have a lot of West Indian expertise in Cayman so our young ladies will benefit in future overseas competition.