Teams hopeful, excited ahead of the inaugural 6ixty tournament

BASSETERRE, St. Kitts (CMC):

The Barbados Royals, Guyana Amazon Warriors, and Trinbago Knight Riders (TKR) are going into the Women's SKYEXCH 6ixty today with 'balanced' teams featuring international stars they hope will help them win the inaugural tournament.

The seven matches in the fast-paced 60-ball contest will all be played at Warner Park, with the final set for August 28.

Jamaican Stafanie Taylor will lead an Amazon Warriors squad that includes Sri Lanka Women captain Chamari Athapaththu who has made six international hundreds with an ODI high score of 178, South African seam bowler Ayabonga Khaka, and 16-year-old Isani Vaghela who has represented the United States national team.

The former West Indies Women captain said the team was looking forward to benefiting from the skill and experience of Athapaththu, who has played in almost 200 internationals; and Khaka, who has a T20 International bowling average of 24.02 and an economy rate of 6.43.

As for having Athapaththu among her batters, the captain said: "I think that's a big one for us at the top order, definitely bolster the batting, and we look forward to her giving us a good start and, hopefully, win us a title."

The Amazon Warriors captain said she was looking forward to the tournament, stressing that her squad would have to be tactical, given the limited batters in the competition. Under the rules of the 6ixty, each batting team has just six wickets.

Anisa Mohammed, TKR's vice-captain, like Taylor, believes her team has a good mix.

"We have power hitters, we have good bowlers on our team, and we have a lot of players with a lot of experience under their belt, so we're really hoping that will be enough to help us get over the line in this tournament," she said.

Among the TKR's overseas players are New Zealand seam bowler Hayley Jensen who has played for both Melbourne Renegades and Hobart Hurricanes in the Big Bash in Australia and South Africa Women's captain Sune Luus, a spin bowling all-rounder.

Each batting team has two PowerPlay overs and can unlock a third PowerPlay by hitting two sixes in the first 12 balls. Additionally, fans will vote for the timing of a Mystery Fan Ball where a batter can't be dismissed by the bowler.