JAMAICA Captain Stafanie Taylor struck a fluent 98 not out to lead her team to a seven-wicket victory over Trinidad and Tobago in yesterday’s Cricket West Indies Regional Women’s Super50 first-round match at Kensington Park.

Jamaica, crowned regional Twenty20 (T20) champions on Monday, reached 226-3 with relative ease inside the 49th over. That came in reply to Trinidad and Tobago’s competitive 225-9 from their allotted 50 overs.

Scores: Trinidad and Tobago 225-9 (50 overs); Jamaica 226-3 (48.4 overs).

At Chedwin Park, Shemaine Campbell struck 107 to lift Guyana to a 65-run victory over Leeward Islands.

Scores: Guyana 229-9 (50 overs); Leeward Islands 164 (45 overs).

At Sabina Park, Barbados were also off to a winning start to the 50-over campaign, beating Windward Islands by 47 runs thanks to Kycia Knight’s 60.

Scores: Barbados 230-9 (50 overs); Windward Islands 183-9 (46 overs).

At Kensington, Jamaica’s Taylor said she knew a member of the top order had to bat long if they were to reach the target.

“I knew it someone had to bat through and that was me. I don’t think we bowled to our field and I don’t think we actually fielded well,” she said, pointing out that Trinidad should have been held to 180 runs at most.

The Jamaica skipper added that while there is disappointment at not getting the hundred, she is grateful for the win, especially after losing to T&T in their T20 clash last week.

“[I’m] disappointed that I didn’t get the century, but I’m happy with the win because it was more important than the century. We really needed to start off with a win and seeing that against Trinidad in the T20 we didn’t do so well we didn’t want to make it two from two,” Taylor, whose knock from 109 balls included only two fours, explained.

Trinidad off spinner Anisa Mohammed said the bowling and fielding units were a letdown after the batting mustered 225.

“I think 225 was a good score, [but] our bowlers didn’t bowl as expected. We usually have a strong bowling team, but unfortunately today our bowlers didn’t step up,” she said.

Mohammed argued that the batting could have also been better.

“When batting between the 15th and 35th over we were (scoring) a bit slow. We needed to rotate the strike a bit more and get a few more runs on the board.”

Earlier, the Trinidad team won the toss and opted to bat first in sunny conditions at the venue.

Leeann Kirby (47) dominated a first-wicket stand of 59 runs with opening partner Felicia Walters to set a platform for the rest of the batting.

Walters went on to top score with 61, while wicketkeeper Merissa Aguilleira made 33 not out and Rachel Vincent added 30.

Jamaica medium pacer Roshana Outar claimed 2-32 from 10 overs, while off spinner Vanessa Watts supported with 2-59.

Jamaica’s opener Natasha McLean (35) and Rashada Williams (26) also got the hosts off to a solid 59-run start.

After both openers were sent back to the pavilion, Taylor and Nation (29) combined for a 101-run stand for the third wicket.

Nation’s dismissal opened the way for the big-hitting Jodian Morgan to partner Taylor to the end. Trinidad’s spinner Karishma Ramharack took all three wickets to end with 3-31 from 10 overs.