West Indies fall to England in World Cup opener
ICC Women’s T20 World Cup
Match 1 – v England
Venue: Boland Park, Paarl; South Africa
Toss: West Indies
Result: England won by 7 wickets
Scorecard: https://bit.ly/t20wiwvengw
West Indies went under to England in their opening contest of the global event on Saturday. They batted first after winning the toss and posted 135-7 from their 20 overs thanks to a top score of 42 from captain Hayley Matthews. The target proved insufficient for England who coasted over the line with 33 balls to spare.
Nat Sciver-Brunt led the chase with an unbeaten 40 from 30 balls in tandem with captain Heather Knight who stroked 32 not out off 22 balls, while Sophia Dunkley struck an 18-ball 34 at the top of the order.
“Out there batting in the middle, we spoke about getting 145, 150. I think we had a decent start, we probably weren’t able to capitalise at the end,” said Matthews. “It’s the World Cup. Every match is very important but obviously this next one is very crucial after today. We definitely need to get some points on the board. We’ll go .. reassess, take the really big positives out of today, look at what we can do a lot better and hopefully take it into that game.”
West Indies welcomed back Stafanie Taylor for her first game in five months after recovering from injury and though she managed only three, helped add 47 off 38 balls for the first wicket with Matthews.
Matthews, who struck eight fours in her 32-ball knock, put on a further 22 for the second wicket with Shemaine Campbelle (34) before she was hit in front by left-arm spinner Sophie Ecclestone, in the 11th over.
Campbell kept up the tempo, lashing four boundaries off 37 balls in a 41-ball fourth wicket stand with Chinelle Henry (14) before the innings fell away swiftly, West Indies losing both batsmen in the 17th over as four wickets tumbled for 18 runs in 17 balls.
Next up for West Indies they will face India, in their crucial second match on Wednesday at Newlands in Cape Town.
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