St. John's, Antigua - India defeated tournament hosts and defending champions, the WINDIES, by five wickets in a practice match ahead of the ICC Women’s World T20 2018.

Electing to bat, the Windies opener Hayley Matthews (41 off 37 balls) made an explosive start. However, India’s bowlers fought back and restricted the tournament hosts to 115 for eight. Leg-spinner Poonam Yadav took the important wicket of Matthews before Radha Yadav took two quick wickets to supress the destructive WINDIES middle order and finished with figures of two for 13 from four overs.

India’s reply got off to a bad start with the loss of Mithali Raj for a duck. However, other opener Smriti Mandhana was able to steady the innings and set up victory for India after making an impressive 32 off just 20 balls. The game was rain affected and India were set a revised target of 75 in 12 overs. Despite accurate bowling from Deandra Dottin — which saw her finish with three wickets — India held on to clinch victory with just three balls to spare.

India captain Harmanpreet Kaur: “It was a really exciting game and I am really happy with how our team played today. This is the kind of performance I expect from my team and I hope we can take this confidence into the tournament. It is always nice to win, and we have set high standards for the team, We did really well in the last ODI World Cup and we are expecting good results again here.”

WINDIES’ stand-in captain Hayley Matthews: “Everybody got an opportunity with bat and the ball and that is important. Despite the loss, we got to see what we have and what the opposition India, have as well. We are looking forward to playing in Guyana and St Lucia now. They are two great and historic grounds, we know the conditions and will have lots of support, so that should help us.”

Scores in brief from warm up matches:

India defeated West Indies by five wickets (DLS method) at Coolidge Cricket Ground, Antigua

WINDIES: 115-8, 20 overs (Hayley Matthews 47; Radha Yadav 2-13, Poonam Yadav 2-17)

India: 75-5, 12 overs (Smriti Mandhana 32; Deandra Dottin 3-12)

New Zealand defeated Sri Lanka by six wickets at Coolidge Cricket Ground, Antigua

Sri Lanka: 98 all out, 20 overs (Shashikala Siriwardana 30; Amelia Kerr 4-13, Jess Watkin 2-15)

New Zealand: 99-4, 18 overs (Maddy Green 36 retired, Suzie Bates 34; Udeshika Prabodani 1-8, Shashikala Siriwardana 1-19)

Bangladesh defeated Ireland by six wickets at Guyana National Stadium, Providence, Guyana

Ireland 83-7, 20 overs (Kim Garth 34; Rumana Ahmed 3-9, Jahanara Alam 2-11)

Bangladesh 86-4, 14.4 overs (Ayasha Rahman 25, Fargana Hoque 21 not out, Sanjida Islam 20 not out; Kim Garth 3-4).