India Women extended their lead in the five-match series to four after beating West Indies Women by five runs via the Duckworth/Lewis/Stern Method in the penultimate match of the series at the National Stadium, Providence yesterday.
The forecasted showers reduced the contest to a nine-over per side showdown after a two and a half hour delay.
West Indies Women won the toss and invited the visitors to take first strike and posted 50-7 in their allotted overs before containing the hosts to 45-5 in the same quota.
Batting with drizzles the sub-continent side seemed as if they were in highlights mode as off-spinner, Hayley Matthews rocked the top order to take 3-13 in her two-over quota. Shafali Verma, the 15-year-old batting sensation, who scored two half centuries prior to the Guyana leg of the series was caught at long off by Chinelle Henry after she had just smashed Matthews for a six in the first over for seven. Matthews then struck twice in the third over, removing Jemimah Rodrigues (06) and Vida Krishnamurthy (06) while Afy Fletcher (2-2) also struck twice, dismissing skipper, Harmanpreet Kaur who was stumped by Shemaine Campbelle for six and Harleen Deol in successive deliveries. Sheneta Grimmond did well to finish with 2-10, including the wicket of Pooja Vastrakar who top scored with 10 from eight deliveries. In the chase, West Indies Women got off to a decent start with player of the match, Matthews returning to score 11 from 14 balls before being bowled by Anjua Patil who ended with 2-8. Chinelle Henry and Chedean Nation both contributed 11 runs each but West Indies Women were almost out of the contest as they required 20 from the last two overs.
