Hayley Matthews produced another player-of-the-match performance as Barbados marched to its third straight win beating the Windward Islands by seven wickets in the third round of the Cricket West Indies T20 Blaze at Providence yesterday.
Windwards won the toss and elected to bat first where they posted 131-4 in their allotted overs with Barbados reaching 133-3 with seven balls to spare.
Windwards got off to a decent start with Stacy Ann Adams scoring 16 from 19 balls before being stumped off of Matthews, to set the foundation for a 68-run partnership between Afy Fletcher and Naeisha Crafton.
The pair picked up consistent boundaries with Crafton smashing Aaliyah Alleyne for a six over long on to bring up the half century partnership in the eighth over.
Fletcher’s hard-fought 27-ball 26, which featured four boundaries was ended when she pulled the first ball off of Matthews in her return spell into the hands of a diving Danielle Small at long on.
Three balls later, Crafton was stumped for 23, hitting two fours and one six along the way to leave Windwards 91-3 after the 13th over. Matthews ended with 3-18.
An unbeaten run-a-ball 26 from Juliana Nero provided the backbone for the back end of the innings with support coming from Akira Peters, who was dropped on eight and 10 in the 18th over, going on to make 12.
In the chase, Matthews dealt in boundaries, stroking nine fours and a single six during her 27-ball 45 before she looked to tuck the ball on the leg side only to get a leading edge into the hands of Rachel Francis at square leg off of Crafton.
Crafton also removed Kycia Knight (6) cheaply while left-arm spinner, Qiana Joseph removed Small, who was dropped on 12 for 16.
However, an unbroken 66-run partnership between Deandra Dottin and Kyshona Knight ensured Barbados remain undefeated.
Dottin was given a chance on 12 and made Windwards pay with her explosive batting that saw her landing four fours and two sixes in her 29-ball unbeaten 42 which was supported by Kyshona Knight’s 20 not out.r
