Sports
FILE PHOTO: West Indies Women’s captain Hayley Matthews. –
WEST Indies Women took an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match T20 International series when they defeated Ireland Women by eight wickets at the Daren Sammy Cricket Ground, St Lucia, on Thursday night.
Winning the toss and batting first, Ireland posted 113/7 in their 20 overs. Amy Hunter led the scoring with 33 from 35 deliveries, and skipper Laura Delany was next best with 20. Cherry-Ann Fraser led the West Indies bowlers, finishing with figures of 1/16 in four overs and Hayley Matthews took 1/24 in four overs. Ashmini Munisar was economical, conceding just 14 runs in her four overs.
Matthews once again led the run-chase, bringing up her eighth T20 International half-century before being dismissed on exactly 50 off 39 deliveries. Shabika Gajnabi played a supporting role to Matthews, scoring 17 not out, and Chinelle Henry finished on 22 off 12 balls as the West Indies reached 114/2 in 16.4 overs.
Speaking after the match Matthews said, “I think we’re pretty happy with the result. Coming into this tour we wanted to be able to take home both series, so just very happy that we were able to go out there and win convincingly today and secure the T20I series.
“We had more intent going out today and we noticed early on that the wicket was a bit better on today and we went out with the intent to chase down the runs quicker. What really helped us today was the fielding, the catches and run-outs we were able to take.Kudos to the overall team for the bowling performance they put on and the fielders for backing them up.”
The teams will meet on Saturday for the final T20 at 5 pm.
