West Indies women continued their good show in the sub-continent. After ending up as runners-up in the ICC Women’s World Cup in India, the team began their tour of Sri Lanka on a winning note, beating the hosts by four wickets in the first One-Day International in Dambulla on Friday.
Sri Lankan batswomen never looked comfortable against some tight West Indies bowling. While all the top four managed to get starts, but none was able to carry on. West Indies medium-pacer Shakera Selman in particular kept a lid on the scoring rate as she finished with a miserly 10-5-8-2. Later a lower-order collapse saw the hosts tumble to 127 for 8. However, a 34-run partnership between Sripali Weerakkody and Dilani Manodara, dragged the Lankan total past 150.
The World Cup runners-up, however, never looked in trouble during their chase of 164. Natasha McLean and Juliana Nero gave them a good start putting up a solid 41-run first wicket stand. Stafanie Taylor, in her first match as captain, fell cheaply to the medium pace of Chamani Seneviratna.
It was a 73-run, fourth-wicket partnership between Deandra Dottin and Kyshona Knight which saw the Windies romp home.
Dottin played a typically belligerent knock, as she hit two fours and four sixes, scoring 43 off just 39 balls. Kyshona played a more composed knock of 36 coming off 54 balls. West Indies stuttered a little towards the end with wickets falling in a heap, losing Knight and Dottin in consecutive overs, but were able to successfully chase the target.
Brief scores: Sri Lanka 164/9 (Shakera Selman 2-8, Shemaine Campbelle 2-13). West Indies 165/6 (Deandra Dottin 43, Kyshona Knight 36)
