Still, when captain Stafanie Taylor won the toss and sent the visitors to bat, it seemed things might have been looking up, as Shamilia Connell had Rachael Haynes tucked up off the first delivery, to be caught by wicket-keeper Reniece Boyce. WINDIES Women then had their tails up. In reality, however, it was Knight’s dropped catch on the long-off boundary off the bowling of Chinelle Henry, to give Alyssa Healy a life, that set the tone for WINDIES’ bowling effort.
Henry and company struggled for consistency as the home bowlers strayed to middle and leg, instead of the required middle and off stump line; often too full to trouble the visiting batters. Despite this, Afy Fletcher was in a class of her own, troubling both centurions – Lanning and Healy -throughout their innings. And had Boyce been able to hold on to an edge the leg spinner induced early in the innings, the West Indies might have had an opportunity to ask some serious questions of the Australian middle-order.
The Aussies, however, were right on the money throughout their bowling effort hitting that middle and off stump line and full on a consistent basis, generating some movement off the pitch, unsettling this inexperienced Windies line-up. Captain Stafanie Taylor did, indeed, show some fight. Unfortunately, there was none found to stand alongside her, and Australia walked away 178-run winners, going one up in the three-match series.