Taylor stands tall

West Indies Women’s captain Stafanie Taylor led from the front with both ball and bat to help her side come away with a six-wicket win over Pakistan in the third and final Twenty20 International, which allowed the regional side to come away with a 3-0 series sweep in Antigua.

First, Taylor got the ball rolling by picking up a hat-trick in the Pakistan innings, which eventually closed at 102 all out in 19 overs and four deliveries. The right-handed captain then stroked a brilliant unbeaten 43 to see her side home at 106 for four in 19 overs and a ball.

Pakistan won the toss and decided to bat, and they continued to find pacer Shamilia Connell hard to negotiate as she picked up both Pakistan openers within the first five overs with just 31 runs on the board.

The introduction of the spinners then proved to be the right formulae for the West Indies as Hayley Matthews first got in on the act by removing Iram Javed for four to leave the visitors in peril at 41 for three.

Then Anisa Mohammed sent down four overs of brilliant off-spin that snared three wickets, to leave the Pakistanis in tatters at 78 for six in the 15th over.

Taylor then came in and bowled the final over in which she worked her magic by removing Fatima Sana, Diana Baig, and Anam Amin with consecutive balls to claim her hat-trick and wrap up the Pakistan innings at 102 all out. Taylor ended with four wickets for 17 runs.

The West Indies run chase didn’t get off to the best of starts as Matthews could only make one run before she went to Amin with just seven runs on the board.

Ten runs later, Deandra Dottin perished for 14 after hitting a four and a six. Things looked grim for the home side with the very next ball as Kyshona Knight was caught off the bowling of Baig for a duck.

Chedean Nation, who returned to action after passing out in game three, hit a brisk 20 while sharing in a valuable 41-run fourth-wicket partnership with her skipper.

Taylor and Kycia Knight saw the Windies home without further damage as the duo shared in an unbroken 48-run fifth-wicket partnership, which sealed the win.

Taylor’s 41-ball knock included four fours while Knight hit two fours in her unbeaten knock of 24 from 27 balls.

The teams will now turn their attention to the five-match limited-overs series, which starts on Wednesday.

The Windies Women’s ‘A’ team was, however, swept 3-0 by their Pakistani counterparts in an eight-wicket loss at the same venue.

sports@gleanerjm.com

SCOREBOARD

PAKISTAN

Muneeba Ali c Selman b Connell 18

*Javeria Khan c Cooper b Connell 6

Iram Javed b Matthews 4

Nida Dar b Mohammed 17

Aliya Riaz c Kyshona Knight b Taylor 29

+Sidra Nawaz c Nation b Mohammed 4

Ayesha Naseem c Selman b Mohammed 8

Fatima Sana lbw b Taylor 1

Diana Baig st Kycia Knight b Taylor 5

Nashra Sandhu not out 0

Anam Amin b Taylor 0

Extras (lb1, w9) 10

TOTAL (all out, 19.4 overs) 102

Fall of wickets: 1-21, 2-31, 3-41, 4-60, 5-66, 6-78, 7-80, 8-102, 9-102, 10-102.

Bowling: Connell 4-0-24-2 (w1), Alleyne 1-0-11-0 (w2), Selman 3-0-13-0 (w1), Matthews 4-0-12-1 (w1), Taylor 3.4-0-17-4 (w2), Mohammed 4-0-24-2 (w2).

WEST INDIES WOMEN

H Matthews c Diana Baig b Anam Amin 1

D Dottin c & b Diana Baig 14

*S Taylor not out 43

Kyshona Knight c wkp Sidra Nawaz b Diana Baig 0

C Nation c & b Nida Dar 20

+Kycia Knight not out 24

Extras (w4) 4

TOTAL (4 wkts, 19.1 overs) 106

Did not bat: B Cooper, A Alleyne, S Connell, A Mohammed, S Selman

Fall of wickets: 1-7, 2-17, 3-17, 4-58.

Bowling: Diana Baig 4-0-17-2 (w1), Anam Amin 4-0-18-1 (w3), Fatima Sana 4-0-27-0, Nida Dar 3.1-0-23-1, Nashra Sandhu 4-0-21-0.

Result: West Indies Women won by six wickets.

Series: West Indies Women won three-match series 3-0.

Player-of-the-Match: Stafanie Taylor.

Toss: Pakistan Women.

Umpires: V Smith, J Blades.