West Indies Women’s ICC T20 Team Came Up Short Against England in South Africa

West Indies Women came up short for a fourteenth straight time in international matches, falling prey to England in their opening match of the ICC Women’s Twenty20 World Cup hosted at Boland Park, South Africa.

The West Indies team, captained by Barbadian Hayley Matthews, posted a decent 135 runs in exchange for seven wickets with Matthews top-scoring for the team with 42 runs. England in response charged at their target and easily overtook their West Indian counterparts with 5 overs and 3 balls to spare.

The West Indies welcomed back former captain and leading batsman Stafanie Taylor for her first game in five months after recovering from injury and though she managed only three runs, helped add 47 of 38 deliveries from first wicket with her successor Matthews.

However, Taylor faced only 15 balls and, missing a frustrating cross-batted heave, fell lbw to 23-year-old leg-spinner Sarah Glenn. Matthews, who struck 8 fours in her 32-ball knock, put on a further 22 for the second wicket with Shemaine Campbelle (34) before she was hit in front by another 23-year-old, left- arm spinner Sophie Ecclestone, in the 11th over.

Campbelle kept up the tempo, lashing 4 fours off 37 balls in a 41-ball fourth wicket stand with Chinelle Henry (14) before the innings fell away swiftly, West Indies losing both batters in the 17 th over as four wickets tumbled for 18 runs in 17 deliveries.

The English lass Nat Sciver-Brunt led the chase with an imposing score of 40 runs from 30 deliveries, strongly supported by captain Heather Knight who stroked 32 not out off 22 balls. Teammate Sophia Dunkley, appearing top of the order, added a hefty 34 off 18 balls.

This loss for the West Indies was the sixth consecutive to their English counterpart and their 14th international overall. They will now face 2020 T20 World Cup losing finalists, India, in their crucial second match shortly.

Commenting after the match, Matthews remarked, “Out there batting in the middle, we spoke about probably getting 145, 150. I think we had a decent start, we probably weren’t able to capitalize [towards] the end.” She continued, “It’s the World Cup. Every match is important but obviously this next one is very crucial after today. We definitely need to get some points on the board. We’ll go, reassess, take the really big positives out of today, look at what we can do a lot better and hopefully take it into that game.”