It was Dottin’s breathtaking catch that dismissed Winfield-Hill, England’s opener for 12. Winfield-Hill cut a ball from Shamilia Connell hard and wide of the fielder but Dottin dived full length and clasped the ball one-handed at shoulder height.
Hayley Matthews and Deandra Dottin were the heroes in action as West Indies grabbed a win at the ICC Women’s World Cup on Wednesday. They were up against England, who were the defending champions. West Indies managed to pull a win at the final overs of the match. They beat England by seven runs at Dunedin, New Zealand.
On Sunday, Matthew made 119 runs and Dottin succeeded in knocking the wickets down thrice. On Wednesday, Mattew and Dottin made a 225- run opening partnership. Matthew made 45 and Dottin contributed 31, with a total of 81 tuns.
Tammy Beaumont from England’s team scored a hopeful 46 but England kept losing their wickets at frequent intervals. After 27 overs, England was at 109/5 and they needed 117 more runs to win the match.
Sophia Dunkley and Danielle Wyatt together made 71 runs which helped England to keep their head in the game. After the score read 156/8, Sophie Ecclestone and Kate Cross made an impressive 61 runs. But it was Mohammed’s brilliance in the 48th over that helped West Indies grab a victory.
West Indies captain Stafanie Taylor remarked, “This isn’t something that I like. It’s a bit nerve-wracking for me,” and then added, “But it’s pleasing that we turned out on the good side.”
It was Dottin’s stunning catch that dismissed Winfield-Hill, England’s opener for 12. Winfield-Hill cut a ball from Shamilia Connell hard and wide of the fielder but Dottin dived full length and clasped the ball one-handed at shoulder height. The catch was a memorable one, as both teams were soaring high, suffered setbacks and moved on again.
West Indies stepping into a win
West Indies had the ball in their court as Dottin and Matthews’ partnership was going on strong for 81/1 at the 20th over. But Ecclestone stunned everyone by knocking down three wickets including Dottin and Matthews who had a good foothold of the match at that point.
Kycia Knights could not contribute much after Matthews and Dottin as she got for six, leaving West Indies at 98 for 4. After her, Shemaine Campbelle and Chedean Nation power steered the match. They maintained a marvellous partnership of 123 for the fifth wicket. Campbelle made 66 and Nation was not out at 49.
England got into hardship after Winfield-Hill’s wicket. Captain Heather only made 5 and Nat Schiver got out at 2. Both of them fell to Matthews. Schiver was quite impressive as she made 109 runs from 79 balls as England fell short of 12 runs against Australia in its opening match.
Just as the match had started to bend over in England’s favour, Dunkley got out at 38 and Wyatt at 33 runs within the space of three balls. This left England at 156 runs on 8 wickets. Ecclestone and Cross then took England within sight of victory again but they could not chase until the final over.
Now, England is in a tight position after losing two consecutive matches. It has to win its third match with South Africa to keep its head in the game.
Brief Scores: West Indies: 225/6 (S Campbelle 66; Chedean Nation 49; Sophie Ecclestone 3-20) beat England: 218 all out (Tammy Beaumont 46, Sophia Dunkley 38; Shamilia Connell 3-38) by 7 runs.
Published By: Apoorva Wakodikar
Edited By: Subbuthai Padma
