BRISTOL, England — The ICC Women’s Twenty20 World Cup is gearing up for one of its most anticipated group stage matches after the West Indies secured a hard-fought five-wicket victory over Sri Lanka on Sunday. The win keeps the Caribbean side’s perfect record intact, setting up a high-stakes showdown with fellow unbeaten team England at Lord’s this coming Wednesday.
The game got off to a dominant start for West Indies after captain Hayley Matthews won the pre-match toss and opted to bowl first on a turn-friendly pitch ideal for spin bowlers. Matthews made the decision pay off almost immediately, claiming the wickets of both Sri Lankan openers and top-order batter Harshitha Samarawickrama in just her opening two overs. By the end of the mandatory powerplay, Sri Lanka was in deep trouble at 23 runs for the loss of four wickets, with Matthews finishing her spell with impressive figures of 3 wickets for just 15 runs. In total, six different West Indies bowlers registered wickets throughout the innings, showcasing the depth of the side’s bowling attack.
Nilakshika Silva put up a valiant resistance for Sri Lanka, top-scoring for her team with 30 runs. But once Silva departed, the Sri Lankan lower order collapsed: the team went six consecutive overs without hitting a single boundary, and added three more wickets to the scoreboard via two run outs and a stumping. Sri Lanka was eventually bowled out all out for just 98 runs, a total that quickly looked under par even early in the West Indies chase.
Despite the solid start with the ball, West Indies made the chase far harder than necessary, stumbling through the middle overs to put their undefeated record at risk. In the very first over of West Indies’ innings, a misfield let batter Deandra Dottin survive when she should have been run out. Captain Matthews was eventually run out for 17, and Dottin followed shortly after for 12, leaving the Caribbean side at 36 runs for 2 wickets at the end of the powerplay. By the 12th over, West Indies had slipped further to 70 runs for 5 wickets, leaving the door open for a major Sri Lankan upset.
That upset never materialized, thanks to a steady, match-winning innings from experienced all-rounder Stafanie Taylor. Taylor remained unbeaten on 27 runs to guide the West Indies across the finish line in the 17th over, with the winning run coming after Sri Lanka spilled a catch at midwicket.
Sri Lanka’s unforced errors ultimately cost the side any chance of an upset. Costly mistakes including wayward bowling that delivered 23 extra runs, multiple dropped catches, sloppy wicket-keeping and inaccurate in-field relays, left the team with far too many concessions. The 23 extras ended up as the second-highest individual score on the West Indies team scorecard, a statistic that underscores just how much Sri Lanka’s errors undermined their own performance.
With the win, both West Indies and England advance to Wednesday’s clash at the iconic Lord’s Cricket Ground holding a perfect 3-win, 0-loss record in group play. In the final match of Sunday’s World Cup slate, South Africa and India faced off in a late game at Manchester, with the result still pending as of this update.
Reporting by the Associated Press.