First defeat for West Indies Women

West Indies Women now has a 3-1 lead in their Twenty20 series against hosts Pakistan Women after they failed to perform both with the bat and ball giving them their first loss on the trip by eight wickets.

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

Pakistan’s left-arm spinner Sadia Iqbal ended with 3 for 18 from four overs to earn the Player-of-the-Match and her captain Nida Dar bagged three for 19 from four overs with her off-spin.

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

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

Earlier, the Caribbean side made three changes to the line-up for the match, but it did not all work out.

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.

Captain and most prolific batsman Hayley Matthews, struggled to get the ball of the square before she was caught at deep mid-on for one off nine balls also from Iqbal in the third over.

The West Indies Women were 25 for 2 at the close of the Power Play, and the wickets of Campbelle and Chedean Nation in successive overs sent them crashing to 39 for 4 at the halfway stage from which they never recovered.

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 matches were played at the same venue.