Batting collapse gives West Indies solid victory
West Indies women celebrate as they beat South Africa by 31 runs in St. Lucia.A batting collapse saw the Proteas women suffer their first defeat in the ICC Women’s World T20 when they took on defending champions West Indies at the Daren Sammy Cricket Stadium in St. Lucia on Wednesday.
Chasing 108 to win, they lost nine wickets for 28 runs as Windies captain Stefanie Taylor took 4/12 in 3.4 overs to lose by 31 runs.
Put in to bat first, West Indies were rocked by the bowling prowess of Shabnim Ismail who was once again a shining light for South Africa up front returning impressive figures of 3/12 in her four-over spell. The home side were reduced to 29/4 before Kycia Knight (32) and Natasha McLean (28) put on 45 runs for the sixth wicket, guiding their side 107/7 at the end of their innings.
South Africa’s reply got off to a slow start, but they still looked set to reach their target when they were 48/2 after 11 overs. Three run outs coupled with Taylor’s four wickets saw them go from that to 76 all out, giving the hosts a famous victory with eight balls to spare. Marizanne Kapp (26) and Lizelle Lee (24) were the only batters to reach double figures.
The next two fixtures are must-wins for the Proteas if they wish to qualify for the semi-finals of the tournament. They take on England this Friday at 16:00 local time (22:00 CAT), followed by Bangladesh on Sunday at 20:00 (02:00 CAT on Monday, 19 November) at the same venue.
SOURCED FROM THE CRICKET SA WEBSITE.
