South Africa’s batting collapsed once again and the Windies took 2-0 lead in the 5 match series.
The toss was delayed due to wet outfield caused by early showers in Trinidad and once Again for the 5th time in a row West Indies won the toss and elected to field first which was a wise decision looking at the conditions and keeping DLS method in mind if rain hits the ground once again.
After taking a break in the first match Dane van Niekerk took back the command from Chloe Tryon and she opened the innings with out of form Lizelle Lee.
Shamilia Connell and Hayley Matthews bowled some tight lines early on and the openers struggled to adapt to the slow pitch. At the end of 3 overs ,South Africa was only on 3 when Hayley Matthews first got Lizelle Lee ( 0 off 12 balls ) and then Sune Luus in the same over. The bowl to Sune Luus was just a treat to watch. Furthermore pressure was mounting on Proteas as they already had lost two wickets and runs were not coming from either end . Chloe Tryon hit few boundaries but Van Niekerk continued to struggle . At last in the 9th over Tryon’s inning also ended when Stafanie got her caught in the hands of Matthews. Up next was experienced batswomen Mignon Du Preez, she along with the Captain built a descent slow partnership and were trying to reach some respectable total. Du Preez smashed Dottin for a Six and a four in the 17th over but after that it was all about Anisa Mohammed who first got Du Preez in the 18th over and then took 4 wickets in the last over which includes a hat trick on last 3 balls of the match. South Africa only managed 101 runs.
West Indies started carefully and were on 26/0 at the end of Powerplay. Hayley Mathews ( 17 off 21 ) got caught in the very next over and after that it was just a smooth ride when Stafanie came to bat. She alongside with last match hero McLean took on every opportunity to score runs and they batted till the end and chased down the target in just 15.3 overs. No one apart from Kapp was able to put the host under pressure and even her wicket column remained empty.
Captain Niekerk said in the post match conference that they lack mental toughness not skill and they failed to execute their plans .
So It will be interesting to see whether South Africa will bounce back in the series or the same story will continue .
Brief scores:
South Africa Women 101/8 in 20 overs (Dane van Niekerk 36(48) , Mignon du Preez 27(23) ; Anisa Mohammed 5-24)
West Indies Women 102/1 in 15.3 overs (Natasha McLean 43*(46), Stafanie Taylor 35*(30) ; Sune Luus 1-10)
Anisa Mohammed was declared Player of the match for her brilliant 5 wickets . She became only Women to have three 5 wickets haul.
Deandra Dottin became third women and fourth player to play 100 or more T20 matches . Only Jennie Gunn and Suzie Bates have played more.
