South American Championship: Tournament round-up

Colombia hosted a Twenty-20 tournament between 23^rd August and 26^th August. The competition featured three teams; Mexico, Chile and Brazil.

The three sides faced off against each other in a double round-robin with points up for grabs for the winner of each match. Brazil finished at the top of the table having won all of their matches. They then met Chile in the final, which dropped only one match during the group stages, to finish second.

Brazil remained unbeaten in their campaign, registering a resounding 92 run win over Chile in the final to be crowned the tournament champions.

Batting first, the Brazilian openers, Renata Souza (27 off 38) and Narayana Reinehr (34 off 31) got their team off to a good start with their 69 run partnership. Contributions from Erika Reinehr (15 off 22) and L Mariano (24 off 28) then helped Brazil reach 137-6 from their allotted overs, putting a challenging total on the board.

Jessica Miranda shone with the ball for Chile, finishing with figures of 2-14 from her four overs. The rest of the bowlers chipped in with a wicket each to restrict the Brazilian batters.

Chasing, Chile lost their first wicket without a run being scored and it only got worse from there. Six batters were dismissed for ducks, half of them golden. No one was able to reach double figures with three batters being dismissed for nine and the only other one to get off the mark, opener Yaritza Rodrigues could only manage two runs off the 27 deliveries she faced. Chile was bundled up for 45 in 15 overs as Brazil won by 92 runs.

For Brazil, Renata Souza contributed with the ball as well, claiming three scalps from the three overs she bowled and leaking just five runs. Moretti Avery finished with the same figures of 3-5 off her two overs, while Denise Souza took two wickets to help bowl Chile out.

Brazilian opener Narayana Reinehr was the leading run scorer of the tournament having amassed 172 runs in five innings, at an average of 57.33, a strike rate of 81.52 and a high score of 53*.

Topping the bowling charts was Chile’s Jessica Miranda, who took 14 wickets at an average of 8.14, including a four-for. Her economy rate of 4.28 an over was particularly impressive for a bowler in a Twenty-20 competition. So impressive was she with the ball that she was adjudged the Most Valuable Player of the tournament.