GROS ISLET, St. Lucia- The West Indies Women took a 1-0 lead in the three-match CG United One Day International series, defeating Ireland by 58 runs at the Daren Sammy Cricket Ground in St. Lucia.
Winning the toss and batting first, Captain Hayley Matthews led the West Indies with her fourth ODI century 109 which came off 107 balls and included nine fours and two sixes. Stafanie Taylor notched her 40th half-century 55 off 68 balls and Chinelle Henry brought up her maiden ODI half-century in 38 deliveries as the West Indies posted 297-6 in their 50 overs. Cara Murray was the pick of the Irish bowlers, with figures of 10-0-60-3.
It was a match filled with milestones for Taylor and Matthews. Taylor is now the third-ranked woman with the most 50+ scores in Women’s ODIs with 46 to her name. Matthews became the third West Indian to reach 2000 ODI runs and the pair posted their third ODI century partnership batting for the West Indies.
Matthews then returned with the ball to scalp 10-0-53-3 while Afy Fletcher 10-0-49-2 and Qiana Joseph 10-0-53-2 were able to assist as the West Indies spun the Irish batter into a web. Ireland reached 238-9 in their 50 overs, Gaby Lewis 83 (100) and skipper Laura Delany 40 (53) were their top run-getters.
After the victory, Matthews told CWI Media
“We definitely wanted to set high standards and individual players and as a team and we wanted to get some runs under our belts in the first game. We wanted to set high standards to carry through for the remainder of the series. It was a really good overall team performance. We had a number of batters chipping in and getting milestones in the process, which is good to see and then an all-round performance by the bowlers to restrict Ireland. We still have a few areas to improve on but overall I am happy with the performance and win today.”
Matthews was voted as the Player of the Match for her 109 runs and 3/53 with the ball.
Full scorecard here
The teams meet again on Wednesday for the second CG United ODI. The first ball is at 10 am Eastern Caribbean (9 am Jamaica time).
Match tickets are available online from the Windies Tickets service, presented by Mastercard – Tickets.windiescricket.com – at a discounted price of US$6/EC$16 (USS3/EC$7.50 children and seniors) with tickets available on the day at the box office at a price of US$7.50/EC$20 (US$3.75/EC$10 for children and seniors).
For fans unable to get to the games in St. Lucia, the CG United ODI Series will be exclusively live on RUSH Sports in the Caribbean and on BT Sport in the UK & Ireland. The matches will also be shown around the world on FanCode (India), ESPN+ (USA), Sky NZ (NZ), SuperSport (sub-Saharan Africa) and in all other countries on the Windies Cricket YouTube channel.
PROVISIONAL SQUAD for 1st and 2nd CG United ODIs
Hayley Matthews (captain)
Shemaine Campbelle (vice-captain)
Aaliyah Alleyne
Shamilia Connell
Chinelle Henry
Afy Fletcher
Cherry Ann Fraser
Shabika Gajnabi
Zaida James
Djenaba Joseph
Qiana Joseph
Ashmini Munisar
Karishma Ramharack
Shunelle Sawh
Stafanie Taylor
Rashada Williams
Match Schedule
(All matches played at the Daren Sammy Cricket Ground, St. Lucia)
CG United ODI Series:
Monday 26 June: 1st CG United ODI – 10 am (9amJamaica Time)- West Indies won by 58 runs
Wednesday 28 June: 2nd CG United ODI – 10am(9am Jamaica Time)
Saturday 1 July: 3rd CG United ODI – 3 pm (2pmJamaica Time)
T20 International Series:
All matches start at 5 pm Eastern Caribbean Time (4 pm Jamaica Time)
Tuesday 4 July: 1st T20I
Thursday 6 July: 2nd T20I
Saturday 8 July: 3rd T20I