The women blazing a trail in the inaugural Bermuda T20 cricket league have expressed their thrill at being part of the new competition.

Precious Smith, the Cleveland captain and an umpire with the Bermuda Cricket Umpires Association, was part of the Bermuda women’s team that last played an international match in 2012, and she is elated to be part of the pioneering group of women to play organised cricket on the island.

“It’s a good experience and it is great feeling for myself and the ladies to be a part of the first ever women’s cricket league in Bermuda,” Smith said.

“This is something that a few of us who have played cricket before and were part of the women’s national team have been waiting for.

“We are very grateful that BCB has finally executed one of its plans in having a women’s league and we are excited to see where this leads us.

“Hopefully, it could be the building blocks to developing women’s cricket in Bermuda as a whole.”

Smith’s Cleveland side saw off Western Stars by 17 runs in their first match. Jadae Hill top scored with 19 runs as they reached 96 for four in 20 overs, while Western Stars were bowled out for 79 in 16.4 overs.

For most of the women, it was actually the first time to hold a cricket bat but Smith was pleased that the match turned out to be competitive and that the players started to show good team spirit.

“It was a good first game for both teams,” Smith said.

“We hadn’t had any training as a unit and, on the day, I found out that the other team hadn't had any training sessions either, so it was really a test of going out there and hoping we could pretty much do the basics to get us through the game.

“For my team, our goal was to go through it and just have fun. I tried not to add too much pressure on the ladies as some of them are very new to the sport, so I wanted to keep them engaged and motivated to come back again.To win was obviously an added incentive.”

Giving her opinion on where she where she thinks most of the players are in terms of technical ability, Smith is of the view that the bulk are novices to the sport.

“I think most of the ladies are at the beginner stages from what I saw,” Smith said.

“They appeared to be natural athletes, which I think made it easier for coaching and just to guide them in executing the game plan. There are definitely many areas that they could improve on and I think the more they train and the more cricket they play, the better they will become.”

In the other T20 match played last weekend, Warwick Workmen’s Club made a brilliant start when beating St David’s by 111 runs at Saltus Grammar School in an encounter that marked the official beginning of the league.

Opener Karen Hodgson led the way for Warwick with 44 off 59 balls, with notable contributions of 26 by Ashley Borges and 20 from Chantal Oosthuizen, which took their score to 157 for four in their 20 overs. They went on to restrict their opponents to 46 for nine in 13 overs.

Eugina Tamika and Rachael Layton, with five runs each, were the top scorers for St David’s and their score could have been worse had the Warwick bowlers not been as generous with a total of 32 extras given away.

Warwick fielded five players who travelled to the United States last month as part of the Bermuda Triangle Gems to compete in the Georgia Women Cricket Association’s tenth annual T20 tournament.

Their captain, Chantal Oosthuizen, is excited that the women’s matches went ahead last weekend in spite of the bad weather that has disrupted cricket on the island in the past few weeks.

“It is exciting to be the pioneers and we are off to a great T20 start with both games being played this past weekend despite heavy rain last week.

“For many girls, it was the first time playing an actual game with hard ball, pads, gloves, etc and we will build on this foundation for the rest of the season.”