(CMC) – West Indies Women grabbed an unbeatable 3-0 lead in their Twenty20 Internationals series against hosts Pakistan Women after another Player-of-the-Match performance from their captain Hayley Matthews spurred them to a dramatic two-run win yesterday.
The 26-year-old Barbadian all-rounder followed up a top score of 68 with two wickets inside the final five overs of the contest at the National Stadium, and the Pakistanis narrowly failed to get over the finish line after they appeared on course to overhaul a modest target of 133.
After pacer Aaliyah Alleyne bowled Pakistan captain Nida Dar for 17 in the 17th over, Matthews snared the prized scalp of opener Sidra Ameen, whose 63 off 58 balls was the top score for the hosts, and Fatima Sana off successive balls in the next over to reduce the chase of her opponents to tatters.
Long-serving leg-spinner Afy Fletcher held her nerve, and she delivered for the Caribbean side in the crucial penultimate over, with Pakistan needing 14 from the final 12 balls.
Fletcher conceded only two runs from the over and dismissed Aliyah Riaz off the second ball, and Natalia Pervaiz was run out off the next ball to intensify the pressure on the home team.
Pacer Shamilia Connell was entrusted with the final over with 12 required, and she conceded four from the first three balls and dismissed Najhia Alvi off the next ball before she ended with a wide, a dot ball, and a boundary in a stunning finish to the match.
It was the sixth successive win on the trip for the visitors after they won the preceding three ICC Women’s Championship One-Day Internationals.
The fairy-tale run of Matthews on this continued when she struck 10 fours in her 49-ball innings and dragged her side to 132 for five after they were put in to bat in the night-time contest.
She added 89 for the second wicket with her deputy, Shemaine Campbelle, but there was little substance and stability from the rest of the batting, and West Indies Women could only muster 25 from the 26 balls after her dismissal.
Campbelle made 31, but no other batsman reached 20, and Sana was the pick of the Pakistani bowlers with two for 22 from her allotted four overs. The remaining two T20Is of the five-match series will be played on Thursday and Friday.