England Women sealed the Twenty-20 International (T20I) series with two games to spare after winning by 17 runs over West Indies Women at the Kensington Oval yesterday.
Spearheaded by a fluent score of 44 from Sophia Dunkley, the English side posted 157-6 after 20 overs, their highest ever T20I score in the Caribbean and the highest by any women’s team in T20Is at this venue.
In reply, West Indies battled to 140-8 in their 20 overs but never really looked like chasing it down once skipper Hayley Matthews fell on 35 to the bowling of Charlie Dean in consecutive matches. Dean finished with 4-19, the second best T20I figures by an Englishwoman against West Indies and won the player of the match award.
Dunkley continued her good form throughout this tour, registering the highest strike rate inside the powerplay for an Englishwoman in T20 cricket. She took a particular liking to Cherry Ann Fraser and Karishma Ramharack, hitting three consecutive fours off each of them with a dismissive use of the sweep shot and the lofted drive.
In the end, it was a direct hit from Shermaine Campbelle that brought about her demise, the fourth run out Dunkley has been involved in this series. Captain Heather Knight was the only other batter to make a score of note for England. Her 43 runs came off 27 balls with five fours and one massive six over midwicket.
West Indies’ attempted record T20I chase of 158 runs got off to a fantastic start. They ended the powerplay on 55-1, their highest in T20I since playing Sri Lanka in the 2018 World Cup.
Matthews was back to her sublime best after a quiet spell on this tour, piercing gaps with the effortless stroke play she is world renowned for. One shot in particular, an extra cover drive on the up for four, was particularly well received by the faithful fans that attended the game.
However the proceedings were cut short when Dean tempted her down the pitch with a well flighted delivery and left wicket keeper Amy Jones with the relatively simple task of whipping off the bails. Five balls later, vice captain Campbelle joined Matthews in the pavilion after her stumps were left in disarray.
Middle order batter Trishan Holder, who was making her debut, settled things down by scoring 21 runs on her home ground, the fifth highest score by a West Indian woman on debut. No batter after her made double figures though, and Freya Davies defended 22 runs from the final over with consummate ease, ceding just four and picking up the wicket of Shabika Gajnabi.
West Indies have lost all six matches against England so far on this tour, having lost the One Day International series 3-0 in Antigua. The remaining T20s are today and Thursday, both at Kensington Oval. (JC)