Led by their recently appointed new captain, Hayley
Matthews, the West Indies Women’s cricketers
suffered a 1-2 loss to the visiting New Zealand
during the recently concluded three-match ODI
Series that was played at Antigua’s Sir Vivian Richards
Stadium. The Kiwis won the first two matches while
West Indies gained a consolation victory in the third.
Stafanie Taylor scored her 38th One-Day International
half-century as West Indies Women won the third and
final CG United ODI by four wickets over New Zealand
Women in the final contest on October 2.
Asked to score 169 for victory at the Sir Vivian Richards
Stadium, the home side overhauled their target in the
44th over. Taylor top-scored with 51 from 89 balls while
captain Hayley Matthews struck 40 from 70 balls in her
return to the top of the order, the two innings laying the
foundation for the successful run chase.
Aaliyah Alleyne produced a breezy unbeaten 27 from 34
balls towards the end, to ensure West Indies Women ended
the three-match rubber on a high.
Choosing to bat first, New Zealand Women were lifted to
168 all out in the penultimate over by Lauren Down’s top
score of 53, the right-hander hitting three fours and a six in
a 78-ball knock. The innings proved crucial after the visitors found
themselves tottering on 19-2 in the sixth over.
Amelia Kerr, made 30 from 56 balls, put on
37 for the third wicket with Maddy Green
(14) before Down controlled the middle
overs.
She added 28 with Kerr for the fourth
wicket before putting on a further 44 for
the sixth wicket with Georgia Plimmer
(17) but off-spinners Matthews (2-
23) and Karishma Ramharack (2-
28) pegged back the innings – New
Zealand losing their last five wickets
for 20 runs.
In reply, West Indies were also in early
trouble at 10-2 in the third over before
Taylor and her successor Matthews
combined in an 81-run, third wicket stand
to repair the innings. Taylor, with just 18
runs from her previous two innings, struck
four fours while Matthews counted three
fours.
“If you look throughout the series the
girls would’ve improved from game
to game, which is some really good
positives that we’re able to take out
of this series,” said Matthews. “We’re
really happy we were able to wrap up
the series with a win and hopefully this is
the kind of form we can take into the T20
series coming up.”