BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – THE women of the West Indies emerged victorious in their nail biting first One Day International match against Sri Lanka Sunday (Apr. 18) at the St. Paul’s Recreational Ground.
West Indies won the toss and chose to field in the first of five warm-up matches between the women ahead of this year’s ICC World Twenty20 tournament in the Caribbean.
Shakera Selman and Danielle Small were oppressive for the Sri Lankan women early on with their seam bowling to leave the visitors at 33 for 4. The squad rebounded in a 33-run partnership between Captain Chamani Seneviratna and Suwini de Alwis, but lacked life in the bottom of the batting order against sustained spin from West Indies.
Eshani Kaushayla top-scored for Sri Lanka with 32 from 49 balls to boost the visitors to a total of 129/8 from 33 overs.
Though it was perceived to be an easy chase, West Indies struggled early on as opening batswoman Pamela Levine lacked support in the upper order to pull in runs. Cordel Jack and Stacy-Ann King contributed a 35-run partnership in the fifth wicket to boost West Indies from 4/47, but the rally came to a stop when Jack was run out by wicketkeeper Dilani Surangika.
When King and Shermaine Campbelle were dismissed in rapid succession to leave the hosts at 92 for 8, the mood took a sudden turn for the tense.
The women showed their tenacity, however, as Anisa Mohammed and Shanel Daley were able to hold their ninth wicket partnership for a game winning 41 runs that gave West Indies a final total of 133/8 from 32.8 overs.
“When I went to the crease I told Shanel, ‘let’s just rotate the strike’, and at that stage we knew we could win. We wanted to stay in control and we wanted to make sure we had more balls in the bag than runs required. Once we kept it that way we knew we would get home.…We were patient and I thought we went about it the correct way,” Mohammed said following the match.
The two teams engaged in their second ODI at St. Paul’s today (Apr. 20) and will play three Twenty20 matches from April 21-24 in preparation for the ICC tournament. Mohammed voiced her confidence of West Indies’ chances of taking the top prize in Barbados.
“We beat England last year, and they are Number 1, so there is no reason why we can’t beat the others. To win, we need to stick to the basics and work according to the plans the coach puts in place. There is a lot to play for, and as a team we are very confident we can make it happen this time around.”
