EAST LONDON - Despite a valiant 34 from captain Hayley Matthews and 21 from debutant Zaida James, the West Indies Women fell to an eight-wicket defeat to India Women in their final preliminary match of the Women’s Tri-Series at Buffalo Park in East London, South Africa on Monday.
Batting first, West Indies posted 94/6 from their 20 overs, Matthews top-scored with 34 (34) and Zaida James added a valuable 21 (31). Deepti Sharma was the pick of the Indian bowlers with figures of 4-2-11-3 followed by Pooja Vastrakar with 4-1-19-2. India reached the 95-run target in 13.5 overs, with Jemima Rodrigues on 42 (39) not out and captain Harmanpreet Kaur 32 (23) not out. Shamilia Connell finished with figures of 3-0-17-1 followed by Hayley Matthews with 2-0-7-1.
After the match captain Hayley Matthews applauded the efforts by the four Under-19 players who were part of the playing eleven today, saying: "It was really good to see how the U-19s 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."
T20I Tri-Series Match Results
(all matches to be played at Buffalo Park, East London)
January 21: vs South Africa – South Africa won by 44 runs
January 23: vs India – India won by 56 runs
January 25: vs South Africa – South Africa won by 10 wickets
January 30: vs India – India won by 8 wickets
February 2: Tri-Series Final, 3pm local time (9am Eastern Caribbean/8am Jamaica)
Scores:
WEST INDIES WOMEN 94 for six off 20 overs (Hayley Matthews 34, Zaida James 21 not out; Deepti Sharma 3-11)
INDIA WOMEN 95 for two off 13.5 overs (Jemimah Rodrigues 42 not out, Harmanpreet Kaur 32 not out)
Result: India won by 8 wickets.