Batting collapse leads to first defeat for WI Women

KARACHI, Pakistan (CMC):

West Indies Women now hold a 3-1 lead in their Twenty20 series against hosts Pakistan Women, after their bowlers failed to bail them out following an inexplicable batting collapse that yesterday condemned them to their first loss on the trip by eight wickets.

Vice-captain Shemaine Campbelle hit the top score of 26 for the Caribbean side and was the only batter to reach 20, and they could only muster 84 for nine from 20 overs after deciding to bat in the penultimate match of their five-match series at the National Stadium.

The visitors failed to come to grips with the Pakistani attack on a slow pitch, and left-arm spinner Sadia Iqbal ended with three for 18 from fours overs to earn the Player of the Match award, and her captain Nida Dar bagged three for 19 from four overs with her off-spin.

West Indies Women got a couple of consolatory wickets in the chase when pacer Shamilia Connell had opener Sidra Ameen caught behind for 15 in fourth over, and leg-spinner Afy Fletcher had Muneeba Ali stumped for eight in the eighth over.

But opener Ayesha Zafar hit the top score of 42 not out to anchor a successful Pakistan chase, and shared an unbroken stand of 46 for the third wicket with Gul Feroza to seal the deal with 21 balls remaining.

Before this stumble, the Caribbean side won the previous six international matches on the trip – the first three T20Is by margins of one run, seven wickets, and two runs, and the preceding three ICC Women’s Championship One-day Internationals – all played at the same venue.

Earlier, the visitors made three changes to the line-up for the match with the series wrapped up to examine their bench strength with the ICC Women’s Twenty20 World Cup coming up later this year in Bangladesh, but it did not all work out.

But they endured an early setback when left-handed all-rounder Qiana Joseph, one of the replacements, was stumped off the official first ball of the match from Iqbal for a duck.

Things turned grim for West Indies Women when Hayley Matthews, their captain and most prolific batter, struggled to get the ball off the square before she was caught at deep mid-on for one – off nine balls – off the same bowler in the third over.

The Caribbean side were 25 for two at the close of the power play, and the wickets of Campbelle and Chedean Nation in successive overs sent them crashing to 39 for four at the halfway stage, from which they never recovered.