West Indies women stormed into the semifinal round of the World 20 International on Thursday by comprehensively beating Sri Lanka by 83 runs at the Darren Sammy Stadium in St. Lucia.
Woman of the Match Hayley Matthews struck 62 and snatched three Sri Lankan wickets for 16 runs to secure her team’s semifinal place.
Openers Matthews and her Barbadian compatriot Deandra Dottin had put on 83 for the first wicket in enabling the West Indies to reach 187-5 in 20 overs.
In reply, the Sri Lankans could only muster 104, with their captain Ataputtu (44) being the only Sri Lankan batsman to put up any resistance to the strong West Indies bowling line-up. West Indies skipper Stafanie Taylor had used seven bowlers in her arsenal.
In the previous game, on Nov. 9, the West Indies women successfully defended 106, crushing Bangladesh by 60 runs in a low-scoring affair.
The Bangladeshis did well to restrict the West Indies to 106-8 in 20 overs, with Jahanara taking 3-23. Knight and Taylor had struck 32 and 29, respectively.
But Dottin, in a remarkable fast-bowling performance, attained the third-best figures ever recorded in women’s Twenty20Is.
In 3.4 overs, Dottin took five wickets for just five runs, in being named Woman of the Match, with the Bangladeshi’s crumbling to 46 all out.
