Source: Jamaica Gleaner
The West Indies women continue to surprise at this year’s ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup, this time England finding themselves falling short of the giant-killing Caribbean side at the University Oval in Dunedin, New Zealand.
With no domestic competition on account of COVID-19, the West Indies women, on the other hand, have come into the World Cup without very much practice and a slew of defeats to boot.
All that counted for naught earlier this morning as they clipped an English side, who as defending champions, were odds on to bounce back against the West Indies but found themselves seven runs shy of a run total that, for them, was very gettable.
The West Indies women, scored 225, their second highest total against England, thanks to Shemaine Campbell’s player-of-the-match, 66.
Electing to bat the West Indies women got off to a great start, scoring 81 for the first wicket thanks to Hayley Mathews’ 45 and Deandra Dottin’s 31, but then there was a wobble when Matthews went in the 21st over.
That over, bowled by Sophie Ecclestone, could have been the turning point in the match, as Dottin would follow Matthews three balls later and before the over was out, West Indies Women’s captain, Stafanie Taylor, was also walking back to the pavillion.
Campbelle would enter the fray with the score on 81-3, and would lose Kycia Knight not long after with the score on 98.
From that position, the West Indies women put their fortunes in their own hands thanks to Chedean Nation’s unbeaten 49, the innings helping the West Indies to 221 before another flurry of wickets in the final two overs.
Ecclestone would end the match with figures of 3-20 from her 10 overs, while the other wicket taker in Nat Sciver had her one wicket cost 49 runs in eight overs. Dottin and Chinelle Henry were run out.
England did not start as well as the West Indies, losing Lauren Winfield-Hill with the score on 31, before losing the dangerous Heather Knight when they were just on 41.
Wickets continued to fall regularly, though Tammy Beaumont, 46, Danny Wyatt, 33, Sophia Dunkley, 38, Ecclestone, 33, and Kate Cross, 27, all got starts and had the opportunity to take the game away from the West Indies.
So while England consistently got closer to the target, their losses were concerning and ultimately proved too much.
For the West Indies, just as they did, against New Zealand, who they beat in their World Cup opener by three runs, their bowling backed up the good performances with the bat.
Shamilia Connell ended with figures of 3-38 from 10 overs, while Matthews continued her wonderful all-round form to bag 2-40. There was also two wickets for Anisa Mihammed, who had 2-24 from just under five overs, while Taylor (1-21) and Aaliyah Alleyne (1-31) had a wicket apiece.
The West Indies now lie second in the eight-team competition behind Australia, who while also having four points, have a better net run rate.