It was the 62nd Women’s T20 game and the first contest of the Women’s World T20 in 2010 between West Indies Women vs South Africa Women at St Kitts in West Indies.
The hosts were tottering after losing four wickets inside the first ten overs with not many runs on the board. It needed a herculean effort by the Caribbean side to get out of jail. Then came an unflinching and outlandish 18-year old rookie. And the rest is history.
Deandra Dottin, apart from being the first woman to score a T20 ton, also smashed the fastest century ever in T20 International cricket. It not only dragged West Indies out of the pits, but also helped them pin the Proteas down by 17 runs.
The beginning was auspicious for the hulking Caribbean women, but the road ahead had its own hurdles for Dottin’s career.
When she eventually stuck to cricket
Astonishingly enough, Deandra didn’t pursue cricket in the first instance. During her early days, she plied her trade in the track and field sports before zeroing in on cricket. Representing Barbados in Athletics at the Under 17 level, she bagged as many as six gold medals across various tournaments like the CARIFTA games and the Central American and Caribbean Junior Championship.
She also won a gold medal at the U-20 level in 2008 in the CARIFTA games, hosted by St Kitts and Nevis. Shot Put, Javelin Throw and Discuss Throw were the departments in Athletics where she stamped her authority for Barbados.
One year later, in 2008, she shifted permanently to cricket when she made her debut against Ireland Women in their European tour where they also locked horns with the Netherlands Women’s team and the England Women’s team, led by Charlotte Edwards.
A valuable all-rounder
With the willow, she has displayed exhilarating prowess and has rescued her team on several occasions. Despite being a hard-hitting batter who likes to live by the sword, she has displayed a tremendous level of maturity, which has made her reliable in the middle order.
In One Day Internationals, she has 17 half centuries, which shows the consistency level of the Barbados-born cricketer. Also, she is West Indies’ second highest run-scorer in ODI’s and T20I’s after Stafanie Taylor with 2373 and 1805 runs respectively.
She has also represented West Indies women in her 100th ODI game when they took on Mithali Raj’s Indian side in the ongoing edition of the Women’s World Cup. With 91 games, she is second on the list of most number of International T20 games by any player.
However, her batting always tends to overshadow another of her skills- bowling right arm fast medium. She doesn’t only stem the run flow, but also picks up wickets during the middle phases of a game. With 50 and 39 wickets in ODIs and T20Is respectively, she has been more than handy with the ball.
When Big Bash Cricket welcomed her
The year 2016 added another feather in the hat of Deandra Dottin’s illustrious career when she was selected to play as an overseas player for the Brisbane Heat in the Women’s Big Bash League. She mastered 178 runs in seven innings at an average of 29.66 and a stupendous strike rate of 109.87.
Her top score came in Brisbane Heat’s round robin match against the Sydney Sixers when she mustered a match winning knock of 60 runs to win the game for her team. After being set a target of 139 runs, the Heat were in all sorts of trouble at 33/3 after 7.3 overs.
The onus was on Dottin to stage a comeback and she did it with perfection by blending caution with aggression as the Heat romped home with four balls to spare.
A career-threatening injury
Amidst her dream run, she suffered a serious head clash during Brisbane Heat’s encounter with the Melbourne Stars on 27th December. As a result, she remained out of the tournament for nearly a month. In an attempt to save a boundary, she crashed in severely with teammate Laura Harris and was taken off on a stretcher.
She was taken to the hospital as she suffered multiple cheekbone fractures. However, she weathered the storm, showed resilience and stormed back to play the last three games for the Heat that included their semi-final clash with Perth Scorchers.
At 26, she already has loads of experience on the field of play and is expected to serve West Indies Women’s cricket for many more years to come.
While their male counterparts have struggled in the recent times, the Women’s team have also strained to find their feet and this is where Dottin’s expertise and knowledge of the game could come to the fore. Dottin’s journey might look glorious, but she had to combat several difficulties to accomplish her ambitions.
As they say, “There’s no rose without a thorn”.
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