An unbroken eighth wicket stand of 24 between Shermaine Campbelle and Tremayne Smartt steered West Indies Women to an unlikely three-wicket win over their Sri Lankan counterparts in the third T20I at the Queen's Park Oval in St Clair yesterday. The result sealed the series for the hosts, who have taken an unassailable 3-0 lead with two matches left to play. Replying to Sri Lanka's 77 for eight in 16 overs, the Windies were in trouble at 38 for six and later 56 for seven when Smartt joined Campbell with a further 21 still needed off 24 balls on a difficult surface.
The pair shifted the momentum back in the home team's favour by taking 10 off the 14th over, bowled by spinner Sandamali Dolawatte. It included the game's only six, struck by Campbelle and helped over the midwicket boundary by a diving fielder. Needing another 11 off the final 12 balls, the hard hitting Smartt managed seven off the first four deliveries of the penultimate over, which eventually yielded nine. She went on to smash the first ball of the final over for four over extra cover to win the match and finish on 12 not out off 8 balls. Campbelle, who was left unbeaten on 27 off 23, had come to the crease with the team badly positioned at 25 for five, having been 17 without loss just a few overs earlier.
Following a brisk opening partnership between Stafanie Taylor (10) and Juliana Nero (7), the team fell into disarray as medium pacers Sripali Weerakkody (4-0-23-3) and Chamini Seneviratne (3-0-8-2) methodically worked their way through the home side's line up. Weerakkody kickstarted the collapse when she had Nero caught at mid off during her second over and the very next ball sent back the dangerous Deandra Dottin, who edged an outswinger to wicketkeeper Prasadani Weerakkody.
Earlier, after rain delayed the start of play by an hour and shortened the match to 16 overs per team, the West Indies had exploited the bowling friendly conditions to restrict the visitors to 77 for eight. Shanel Daley (4-0-17-2), Subrina Munroe (3-0-12-2) and Taylor (3-0-16-2) each picked up a couple wickets but failed to remove the resilient number four Deepika Rasangika, whose unbeaten 22 off 25 balls almost proved to be the deciding factor. Rasangika added a valuable 24 for the fourth wicket with Shashikala Siriwandena (12 off 16) after the Sri Lankans slumped to 30 for three in the early stages of their innings. They later crashed from 54 for three to 68 for eight before Rasangika added another nine with Dolowatta (4 no) to make their total a bit more competitive. Opener Charmari Atapattu was the only other player to reach double figures, hitting 15 off 21 balls.
