In a nail-biting finish, England women had to rely on a bye off the last ball to beat West Indies Women in a ICC Women's T20 World Cup tie at HPCA stadium, in Dharamsala, on Thursday.
Batting first, West Indies scored 108/4 in 20 overs in the 14th match of the T20 meet. The English side got the winning run off a bye on the last ball to finish at 109/9. The West Indies Women, who had won the toss and elected to bat, were off to a good start and were at 9/0 after the first over. But they lost the wicket of H Matthews in the second over to Katherine Brunt. Shaquana Quintyne then joined Stafanie Taylor at the crease. She looked in great touch and got the boundaries that her team needed in the power-play as the West Indies raced to 34/1 in 6 overs. But the England Women put a check on their scoring and slowly the run rate came down with West Indies at 44/1 after 9 overs.
As England bowlers started bowling in the right areas, Quintyne was the next to go after she was caught by Jenny Gunn off the bowling of Natalie Sciver. She scored 29 off 28 balls. The West Indies were soon 62 for 2 in 12 overs and needed some runs in the final overs of the innings. But Deandra Dottin and Taylor were finding it tough to find the boundaries. However, a good 17th over yielded 11 runs and gave a boost to the Windies women.
For England, Rebecca Grundy finished with bowling figures of 0-22 while Katherine Brunt finished with 1-26. Anya Shrubsole ended with figures of 1-11.
Brief scores: West Indies Women: 108/4 in 20 overs (Stafanie Taylor 35 off 47; Anya Shrubsole 1 for 11) vs England Women 109/9 (TT Beuamont 31 off 23; Afy Fletcher 3 for 12).
