South Africa’s batting collapse and Stafanie Taylor’s tricky spin did it all for the West Indies in their second match of the tournament after putting a below par score on board at Darren Sammy National Stadium , St. Lucia.
Both teams has won their previous matches with ease in the tournament and it was 4th meeting between South Africa and West Indies in the T20 World Cups and the former had never defeated the Windies. But it is very difficult to pick any winner on paper , they both recently tied a T20 and ODI series they played a month ago.
South Africa once again won the toss and decided to field first.
Teams:
South Africa Women (Playing XI): Lizelle Lee(w), Laura Wolvaardt, Marizanne Kapp, Dane van Niekerk(c), Mignon du Preez, Sune Luus, Chloe Tryon, Shabnim Ismail, Masabata Klaas, Tumi Sekhukhune, Moseline Daniels
Windies Women (Playing XI): Hayley Matthews, Deandra Dottin, Stafanie Taylor(c), Shemaine Campbelle, Natasha McLean, Britney Cooper, Kycia Knight(w), Chinelle Henry, Afy Fletcher, Shakera Selman, Shamilia Connell
Hayley Mathews and Deandra Dottin opened the innings for the Windies and after a tight first over by Kapp, Shabnam Ismail took two successive wickets ,first Hayley Mathews and then a beautiful outswinger which was enough to take a knick to get rid of dangerous Stafanie Taylor. Despite quick wickets Deandra Dottin attacked Marizanne Kapp in the next over and took 13 runs from it but her innings cut short by in-form Shabnam in her next over when Dottin miss timed one. Two maiden overs and a big wicket of Dottin was enough to put the host under pressure.
After 7 overs West Indies were on 29-3 and Moseline Daniels in her very first ball clean bowled Shemaine Campbelle which made things even harder for the host. Once again Kycia Knight and in-form Natasha McLean became the saviours ,they made crucial 45 runs partnership for the 5th wicket . Kycia Knight accelerated in the death overs while others failed to do so but it was enough to take the total to 107 runs .
Shabnam Ismail took 3 wickets giving away only 12 in her quota of 4 overs. Whereas Kycia Knight was the highest scorer with 32 runs.
Lizelle Lee and Laura Woolvardt started well and Proteas were on 17-0 at the end of 4th over and Selman strike on the first ball of the next over to get Laura out. Experienced all rounder Kapp was next batter and she alongside with Lee made 31 runs partnership and the run chase was looking stable but then everything fall apart for the South African team , first they lost Lee then their Captain got run out and after that it was all Stafanie Taylor’s show ,she took 4 wickets and 3 batswomen got run out and batting collapse can be imagined by the fact that they lost 5 wickets in the frame of one run that is between 75 and 76.
So West Indies once again defended a low total and they won by 31 runs .
Stafanie Taylor was adjudged Player of the Match for her spell of 4/12.
BRIEF SCORES:
West Indies : 107-7 (20 overs): Knight 32, Ismail 3-12
South Africa : 76 (18.4 overs): Kapp 26, Taylor 4-12
With this win West Indies are on top of the table and most probably they will qualify for Semi Finals but they need to address few issues in their batting department , they just managed 106 and 107 in both of their matches which will not be enough for good teams like England and Australia.
Whereas South Africa performed well with ball in their hand , Shabnam Ismail was brilliant once again but they failed to chase a low score because they lost their key batters like Dane Van Niekerk and Mignon du Preez at wrong time and now they must win their remaining two matches against England and Bangladesh to reach last 4.