NORTH SOUND, Antigua – Opener Hayley Matthews sparkled with her second One-Day International hundred as West Indies Women secured a series win with a commanding eight-wicket victory over Pakistan Women on Monday.
Chasing an uncomplicated 183 in the third ODI of the five-match series, the hosts cantered to their target off the first ball of the 41st over, with the right-handed Matthews finishing unbeaten on exactly 100 off 122 deliveries.
She struck 11 fours and dominated a 56-run, opening stand with Kyshona Knight (18) before putting on a further 106 for the second wicket with Britney Cooper, who fell short of a well-deserved half-century with 45 off 68 balls.
Sent in earlier at the Vivian Richards Cricket Ground, Pakistan were lifted by Omaima Sohail’s top score of 62 before they were dismissed for 182 with an over remaining in the innings.
Opener Muneeba Ali (25) and Nida Dar (24) chimed in with supporting knocks but off-spinner Anisa Mohammed (3-25) and medium pacer Chinelle Henry (3-37) snatched three wickets apiece to stall the innings and set up West Indies’ third straight win.
Not to be left out, Matthews also starred with the ball, grabbing two for 30 from ten measured overs of off-spin.
“We all knew as batters once we applied ourselves at the crease, spent some time and batted some overs, that the wicket was good enough that once we batted normally, the runs were going to come,” said Matthews.
“That was the mindset all of us had going out there. Me personally, I just wanted to spend a lot of time at the crease and I was able to do that, and the runs were able to come with it.”
The hundred for Matthews was the second in her last eight ODIs, her maiden one coming against South Africa before her home fans in Bridgetown, nearly three years ago.
She reached her half-century off 54 deliveries at the start of the 17th over from off-spinner Rameen Shamim before raising triple figures off the 121st delivery she faced, by clipping seamer Diana Baig to mid-wicket for a couple in the 40th over.
“I’m really excited. I’ve been working really hard over the last couple of months to improve on my batting and improve on my consistency and it’s really good to see it finally paying off,” the 23-year-old beamed.
Kyshona Knight struck two fours in her 31-ball stay before falling lbw to left-arm spinner Anam Amin in the 12th over but Cooper arrived to carve out three boundaries in a polished knock.
She appeared set for her first ODI half-century in five years when she top-edged a swivel pull at fast bowler Fatima Sana, and fell to a well-judged running catch by Ayesha Naseem at backward square in the 36th over.
Sohail had proven the mainstay of Pakistan’s innings when they batted, her knock consuming 79 balls and including seven fours.
With her side struggling on 56 for three in the 16th over after Henry removed Muneeba and captain Javeria Khan (12), Sohail staged an 87-run, fourth wicket partnership with Nida Dar to prop up the innings.
However, both fell in the space of 19 deliveries with ten runs added to leave Pakistan on 153 for five in the 38th over, as the last seven wickets went down for a mere 39 runs, with stand-in captain Mohammed doing the bulk of the damage. (CMC)
