Outstanding West Indies Seal Series In Sri Lanka

Outstanding West Indies Seal Series In Sri Lanka

Stafanie Taylor hit 75 in 46 balls then took the wicket of Shashikala Siriwadene as West Indies beat Sri Lanka for the third T20 game in a row

©ICC/Solaris Images

West Indies Women 145-6 (Taylor 75) beat
Sri Lanka Women 111 by 34 runs
Third Twenty20 International, Colombo
Scorecard
Report by John Pennington

Stafanie Taylor hit 75 in 46 balls and Shanel Daley then returned five for 15 as West Indies Women thumped Sri Lanka by 34 runs in the third Twenty20 International in Colombo.

Taylor's innings helped the tourists reach an imposing 145 for six and Daley's career-best effort saw Sri Lanka dismissed for 111 in the final over, handing West Indies an unassailable 3-0 series lead.

Daley's effort is the fifth best bowling effort of all time behind only Amy Satterthwaite (6-17), Anisa Mohammed (5-10), Jhulan Goswami and Anya Shrubsole (both 5-11).

And on only three occasions (Deandra Dottin and Stacy-Ann King, twice) has a West Indian other than Taylor scored more than 75 runs, underlining a dominant performance at the R Premadesa.

West Indies got off to an inauspicious start as openers Kycia Knight (11) and Dottin (12) made slow progress but Taylor' sarrival signalled a change in tempo.

The first two matches had seen players from both sides having to battle for every run but this was a much more free-flowing match, Taylor hitting seven fours and four sixes on the way to her 10th Twenty20 International half-century, extending her record haul of fifties one more clear of English namesake Sarah.

Kyshona Knight made just three in a third-wicket partnership of 21 but Merissa Aguilleira (21) and Daley (15 not out) were able to make useful contributions towards the end of the innings, enabling West Indies to post their third highest score in T20 matches.

Eshani Kaushalya (2-25) and Shashikala Siriwardene (2-18) were impressive but others, notably Sripali Weerakkody and Inoka Ranaweera suffered badly at the hands of Taylor's powerful hitting.

Shakera Selman then put Sri Lanka under huge pressure by removing Chamari Atapattu without scoring and Deepika Rasangika for nine before Daley struck for the first time to have Prasadani Weerakkody caught by Tremayne Smartt for 18.

She then went on to remove Ama Kanchana for two, caught by Subrina Munroe, bowled both Kaushalya (8) and Sripali Weerakkody (2) and finally trapped Dilani Manodara in front first ball to complete her five-wicket haul.

Nevertheless, despite this clatter of wickets - they lost five for 16 - all hope was not lost because at the other end, Siriwardene was playing a fine knock, eventually falling to Taylor for 46 in 38 balls, to keep her side in with a chance.

However, even she had been left with too much to do and after she was dismissed in the penultimate over with the score on 109, the end came just two runs later when Udeshika Prabodhani was caught behind off Munroe for six.

Through Siriwardene - with bat and ball - Sri Lanka fought hard, this was a West Indies performance that would have been good enough to challenge, and beat, most other sides in the world.

The final two matches in the series are on Thursday (7th March) and Friday (8th March).

© Cricket World 2013