The Proteas Women locked horns with the West Indies women today at the Coolidge Cricket Ground for the 1st ODI of their series. Both teams have earlier played 3 T20Is at Sir Vivian Richards Cricket Ground which result in a 1-1 Draw.
1st Innings
The game started with the toss in favour of the West Indies women who opted to bat first. The openers Hayley Matthews and Kyshona Knight sustained themselves on the field for a decent time but the run-scoring pace was extremely slow. Both Matthews and Knight scored only 4 and 5 runs off 35 and 15 balls respectively. Following their elimination Britney Cooper and Deandra Dottin took charge. Both formed a good partnership and picked up the pace, scoring some fast and needed runs for the team. The partnership broke as Cooper got injured midway and had to retire. Dottin then continued to strike South Africa’s deliveries with Kycia Knight. Both batters once again formed a partnership and continued the momentum set earlier. Unfortunately, both these batters’ elimination was a big blow to the West Indies. The momentum was completely trashed, the run-scoring pace once again slowed down significantly and the batswomen could barely even last for 3 overs. All of the individual scores following Knight’s wicket were single digits. Within 47 overs, the entire West Indies team had been eliminated by the Proteas bowlers. Their total score being 153 runs was easily chasable. Ayabonga Khaka, Sekhukhune and Captain Dane van Niekerk picked 2 wickets each.
2nd Innings
The second inning was opened by South Africa’s star batter Lizelle Lee who was accompanied by another excellent performer Laura Wolvaardt. Both openers started with a bang, knocking several fours. An excellent partnership had been built but got dissolved as Wolvaardt was clean bowled by West Indies Captain Anisa Mohammed at 36 runs off 65 balls. Following her, Sune Luus was not given the chance to showcase her excellent stroke play due to elimination through LBW by Qiana Joseph. No sooner than she entered the field, she had to return to the team bench scoring no runs off 5 balls. Then came Dane van Niekerk. The smart captain was aware that opener Lee had by then settled into her game and was ready to showcase her power. Captain Niekerk took advantage of this opportunity and provided her best support to Lee. Lee, who had then become confident with the Captain’s entry, once again commenced her powerful shots. Lee ended the inning in style with another power-packed four and South Africa chased their target in just 40 overs.
Missed a well-deserved Century by just 9 Runs but ensured a comprehensive victory for South Africa in the 1st ODI vs West Indies.
What a knock by Lizelle Lee 🙌👏#WIvSA #WIWvSAW @zella15j pic.twitter.com/80njuifYb4
— Female Cricket (@imfemalecricket) September 8, 2021
With the end of this match, the South African women opened the ODI series with a victory and lead of 1-0 against the West Indies. However, there are still 4 more matches to be played in the coming days so the winner of the series is yet to be known.
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