The visiting West Indies women’s cricket team grabbed their second trophy during the tour of Sri Lanka when they won the 3rd T20 game by 9 wickets and sealed off the series, 2-1 at R. Premadasa Stadium on Tuesday.
The Windies skipper Melissa Aguillera won the toss and elected to field first. The hosts produced their worst batting performance in the entire tour in this final deciding game as they were restricted to 74 for 9 in 20 overs. Skipper Chamari Atapattu was the only batswomen to get going on a batting-friendly surface. She made a fighting 48-ball 43 comprised of 6 fours and she was the 7th wicket to fall after opening the batting. Apart of Chamari, only Chathurani Gunawardene reached double figures.
Off-spinner Hayley Matthews was the pick of the bowlers taking 4 wickets for 10 runs in her 4-over spell. Anisa Mohammed gave stunning support from the other end taking 2 scalps for 7 runs and she bowled 2 maidens as well.
Chasing a comfortable target of 75 runs to win, the Windies opening pair of Stafanie Taylor and Hayley Matthews almost got them over the winning line but fortunately for the Lady Lions, Taylor was dismissed for 38 by Inoka Ranaweera when the score was 74. Matthews was quick to respond scoring the winning run in the very next ball as she remained unbeaten on 32 to cap off a stunning all-round performance. She won the player of the match award as well.
Chief Scores:
Sri Lanka Women – 74/9 in 20 overs: Chamari Atapattu 43, Chathurani Gunawardene 10, Hayley Matthews 4/10, Anisa Mohammed 2/7.
West Indies Women – 75/1 in 11.2 overs: Hayley Matthews 32*, Stafanie Taylor 38.
