​​Matthews, Sammy excited about advocating for ‘health, fitness and well-being’

West Indies Women’s captain Hayley Matthews and West Indies Men’s white-ball head coach Daren Sammy said they were looking forward to making purposeful contributions to a new health, fitness and well-being advisory board being established by the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) organizers.

Matthews and Sammy, the League’s joint chief medical officer, Dr. Akshai Mansingh and the Principal Medical Officer of the Trinidad & Tobago Ministry of Health, Dr Maryam Abdool-Richards will form the new advisory board.

“I am passionate about women and girls across the Caribbean being involved in sport and fitness, and I am looking forward to working with the health and wellbeing advisory board and CPL to create initiatives that will encourage participation,” Matthew said. “As someone who manages a sporting career while suffering with diabetes, I hope that I can add a unique perspective to the discussions.”

Sammy added: “The health and well-being of Caribbean people is hugely important to me, especially our young people who we work very hard through my foundation. I am excited to be involved in this great initiative from CPL, and I look forward to being involved in creating meaningful programs that come from this new collaboration.”

A CPL news release revealed that the advisory board will meet quarterly with senior CPL staff to advise the tournament on how best it can use its platform to promote healthy living and wellness.

“Health, fitness and well-being are very important issues across the Caribbean and around the world, and we want to use cricket and our platform as a force for good in this area,” CPL chief executive officer, Pete Russell said.

“We are looking forward to working with the advisory board to create meaningful and long-lasting programs that have a positive impact on health and well-being across the region.

“Starting this season, there will be activities at the games that will create a fun vibe around health and fitness – allowing everyone to join in and be part of the fun.”

Matthews 50 spearheads Fire Record Chase

Matthews blasted a career-best half-century, as Welsh Fire completed their highest-ever run chase in the competition to beat London Spirit by six wickets recently at Lord’s.

Chasing 151 to win their second game, Fire reached their target with five balls to spare, with 26-year-old Matthews top-scoring with a brilliant unbeaten 78 off 46 deliveries in a Player-of-the-Match performance smacking 11 fours and two sixes.

Entering at number three, Matthews saw Fire slump to 33 for two before inspiring stands of 47 for the third wicket with wicketkeeper Sarah Bryce (21), 43 for the fourth wicket with Jess Jonassen (14) and a further 28 in an unbroken fifth wicket partnership with Phoebe Franklin (six not out).

Matthews raced to her 50 from 37 balls with continuous boundaries off leg-spinner Sarah Glenn and took Fire over the line with back-to-back fours off off-spinner Deepti Sharma.

After being sent in, the previously unbeaten Spirit got to 150 for five off their 100 deliveries with Danielle Gibson hitting 41 from 25 balls, counting half-dozen fours and a six. Deepti scored an unbeaten 39 from 26 deliveries, who struck two fours and two sixes.

Together, they posted 67 for the fifth wicket after opener Meg Lanning had struck 31 from 20 balls to power a 49-run, second-wicket partnership with Cordelia Griffith (17).