Cricket: Jamaican's effort bring smiles for Aucklanders

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Two finals, one win, one loss, and Auckland's women cricketers have plenty to smile about as they reflect on their domestic campaign.

In their weekend doubleheader, Auckland beat Canterbury by five wickets to win their Action Cricket 50-over final in Rangiora, before losing their T20 final to the same opponents at Christchurch's Hagley Oval by 29 runs the following day.

Considering Auckland finished fifth in both competitions last season, a 1-2 finish represents a decent step forward. Auckland owed plenty to their West Indian import, Stafanie Taylor, who belted 110 off 143 balls to set up the victory on Saturday, as they chased down 201 to win with 4.1 overs to spare.

Then, having restricted Canterbury to 113 for eight in their 20 overs, Auckland's batsmen were dismissed for just 84 in 17.4 overs.

"If you said at the start of the season we've had a first and second finish, we'd take it," co-coach Maia Lewis said yesterday. "The only thing the girls were disappointed with was the opportunity was there to take out the [second] game on Sunday. But the improvement has been massive. The results speak for themselves."

Taylor's contribution was substantial. She scored 291 runs at 48.5 - only England wicketkeeper Sarah Taylor, with 306 runs at 61.2, made more for Wellington - and picked up eight wickets at 17.75 apiece in the T20 competition.

Stafanie Taylor collected 166 runs at 55.33 in the 50-over format. Lewis would love to have the 20-year-old Jamaican back and is a big fan of the import concept.

"She was huge for us," Lewis said. "It was a win-win all round. It helped her develop her own career and skills and obviously it helped our team and has given the other girls some confidence within themselves. I can't see anything detrimental with that."