COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, CMC –West Indies Women have won the five-match T20 series against Sri Lanka after a hard hitting half century from Stafanie Taylor and an impressive five wicket haul from medium pacer Shanel Daley spurred them to a 34 run win in the third match today.
Taylor single handedly destroyed the Sri Lanka bowling with a hostile knock of 75 that propelled the visitors to 145 for six in their 20 overs after losing a couple of early wickets at the R Premadasa Stadium.
Daley grabbed five wickets for 15 runs to engineer a batting collapse and stifle the Sri Lankan run flow as the homeside was bowled out for 111 in 19.2 overs.
West Indies now enjoy an unassailable 3-0 lead in the five-match series following wins Friday and Sunday.
Deandra Dottin hit a six and seemed set to play her tyically aggressive innings but fell in the third over for 12 after Sri Lanka put West Indies into bat.
Sri Lanka’s early success saw West Indies slipping to 61 for the loss of three wickets including Kycia Knight† for 11.
However Taylor changed the complexion of play with an offensive against the bowlers that kept the scoring up with a 46-ball 75 that included four sixes and seven fours.
Taylor teamed up with Captain Merissa Aguilleira to put on 63 for the fourth wicket significantly bolstering the run rate.
Aguilleira contributed 21 from 25 balls.
Shashikala Siriwardene was the star Sri Lankan bowler picking up two wickets and conceding less than six runs an over.
Shakera Selman struck early for West Indies by knocking over Chamari Atapattu’s stumps in the first over.
Selman struck again this time in the seventh over removing Herath Mudiyanselage Deepika stumps for nine.
Soon afterwards Daley began her five wicket haul including a wicket in each of her first two overs as West Indies kept the Sri Lanka run-rate in control.
The first four Sri Lankan wickets tumbled before 50 runs could be put on the board and at one stage they hobbled at 59 for 7.
Some late hitting by Hettimulla Siriwardene helped them cross 100 runs but could not change the course of the match.
