India take final T20I as James bats solidly on debut
Tournament: Women’s Tri-Series
Opponent: India Women
Venue: Buffalo Park, East London
Result: India won by 8 wickets
Scorecard: http://bit.ly/wiwvindw
EAST LONDON, South Africa – Despite a valiant 34 from captain Hayley Matthews and 21 not out from debutant Zaida James, the West Indies Women fell to another defeat to India Women in their final preliminary match of the Women’s Tri-Series at Buffalo Park in East London.
It was a historic day for the Maroon Warriors as four of the Rising Stars players who recently participated in the ICC Women’s U19 World Cup were in the to the playing XI, with Zaida James and Jannillea Glasgow making their T20I debuts.
James took a while to get going but when she did, she powered into two huge sixes to long on and long off. She played a supporting role with Shabika Gajnabi as the pair added 20 runs for the fifth wicket and then 21 runs with Aaliyah Alleyne for the sixth wicket.
Matthews got the innings going after the loss of two quick wickets when Rashada Williams and Shemaine Campbelle were dismissed in successive deliveries by Deepti Sharma. Matthews struck five fours on her way to a top-score as the West Indies Women posted 94-6 from their 20 overs. Deepti Sharma finished with figures of 4-2-11-3 and Pooja Vastrakar with 4-1-19-2.
India captain Harmanpreet Kaur and Jemimah Rodrigues took 13.5 overs to get their team to victory, finishing on 32 not out and 42 not out respectively. This was after Shamilia Connell knocked over Smriti Mandhana’s off-stump for five and Matthews had Harleen Deol caught by Shabika Gajnabi for 13. Connell finished with figures of 3-0-17-1 and Matthews 2-0-7-1.
Speaking after the match, captain Matthews applauded the efforts by the four U19 players.
“It was really good to see how the U19s played today. Zaida James stepped up with the bat and the energy that they brought on the field was really good. We are still missing the experience of Stafanie Taylor and Chinelle Henry and it’s been a pretty tough tournament for us when it comes to results, but we have better days to look forward too,” she said.
The West Indies Women will travel to Cape Town on February 3 ahead of the start of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup. The eighth edition of the marquee event will begin on 10 February with hosts South Africa taking on Sri Lanka. West Indies have been drawn in Group 2 alongside England, India, Pakistan and Ireland.
Newlands, Cape Town; Boland Park, Paarl and St. George’s Park, Gqeberha are the host venues for the tournament with both semi-finals and final being played in Cape Town on 26 February.
ICC Women’s T20 World Cup Group 2 West Indies Match schedule
13 February: vs England, Boland Park, Paarl, 3pm (9am Eastern Caribbean/8am Jamaica)
15 February: vs India, Newlands, Cape Town, 3pm (9am Eastern Caribbean/8am Jamaica)
17 February: vs Ireland, Newlands, Cape Town,7pm (1pm Eastern Caribbean/12noon Jamaica)
19 February: vs Pakistan, Boland Park, Paarl, 3pm (9am Eastern Caribbean/8am Jamaica)
-ENDS