WI v Ban Women’s World T20 Review: West Indian eves continue their charge in India

If points were awarded to the most flamboyant team in women’s cricket, the West Indies Women, like their male counterparts, would top the charts most times. The way they celebrate a wicket or a victory, their power hitting in the middle or even how they train ahead of a game – there’s a distinct flavour in most things they do. That flavour was evident in Chennai when the team defended a score of 148 with much ease against Bangladesh.

West Indies chose to bat first and made a brilliant start courtesy their openers who looked comfortable in the middle. Hayley Matthews (41) and skipper Stafanie Taylor (40) added 67 runs for the opening stand. While Mathews hit four boundaries in 42 balls, Taylor hit two fours and a maximum in 41 deliveries.

Hayley’s innings was cut short by Nahida Akter, who had her stumped. Akter again made an impact by removing Taylor having her caught by Lata Mondal. Akter did not stop just there and had caught and bowled for Britney Cooper for nine.

But it was the whirlwind 32-run stand for the fourth wicket between Deandra Dotting (24 off 11 balls) and Stacy-Ann King (20 not out off 15 balls) that helped West Indies go past 140-run mark. While Akter finished her spell on 3/27, Salma Khatun was equally impressive in her spell of 0/23 off 4 overs.

In reply, Bangladesh women were 99 all out in 18.3 overs losing their third straight match to bow out of the tournament. Skipper Taylor was the most successful bowler as she took 3/13 in three overs with her off-breaks. For Bangladesh, it was Nigar Sultana who top-scored with 27.None of the other batswomen could cross an individual score of 20 runs. The next best score was 17 by Fargana Hoque.

Bangladesh Women were never in the game as they kept picking up wickets at regular intervals and as a result lost quite comprehensively in the end. They will find it tough to get through to the semis as they have already lost both their matches in the tournament.

Brief Scores:

West Indies Women: 148/4 in 20 overs (H Matthews 41; N Akter 3/27)

Bangladesh Women: 99/10 in 18.3 overs (N Sultana 27; S Taylor 3/13

Player of the match: Stafanie Taylor (West Indies Women)