The West Indies Women took an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match T20 International series when they defeated Ireland Women by 8 wickets at the Daren Sammy Cricket Ground on Thursday night.

Winning the toss and batting first, Ireland posted 113/7 in their 20 overs. Amy Hunter led the scoring with 33 from 35 deliveries, skipper Laura Delany was next best with 20. Cherry-Ann Fraser led the West Indies bowlers, finishing with figures of 4-0-16-1 and Hayley Matthews 4-0-24-1, with special mention to Ashmini Munisar who had the most economical spell of 4-0-14-0.

Hayley Matthews once again led the run-chase, bringing up her eighth T20I half-century before being dismissed on exactly 50 off 39 deliveries. Shabika Gajnabi played a supporting role to Matthews and eventually Chinelle Henry who smashed a full toss for six and three boundaries to finish on 22 off 12 while Gajnabi was not out on 17, as the West Indies Women reached the 114-run target in 16.4 overs.

Match Summary

West Indies Women 114/2 (16.4 ov)

Ireland Women113/7 (20 ov)

West Indies Women won by 8 wickets

SCORECARD

Speaking after the match, skipper Hayley Matthews said, “I think we’re pretty happy with the result. Coming into this tour we wanted to be able to take home both series, so just very happy that we were able to go out there and win convincingly today and secure the T20I series. We had more intent going out today and we noticed early on that the wicket was a bit better on today and we went out with the intent to chase down the runs quicker. What really helped us today was the fielding, the catches and run outs we were able to take, kudos to the overall team for the bowling performance they put on and the fielders for backing them up.”

The teams will meet on Saturday July 8 for the final T20I. First ball is at 5pm local time (4pm Jamaica time).

Cricket Ireland report

Ireland Women battled hard but ultimately fell to an eight-wicket loss in Game Two of the three-match T20 International (T20I) series against West Indies at the Daren Sammy Cricket Ground today.

Ireland captain Laura Delany won the toss and decided to bat first – but despite some positive intent in the opening overs, Ireland soon suffered a double blow with Gaby Lewis (2) and Orla Prendergast (2) both falling early. Lewis was the first of four run outs in the Irish innings as the Girls in Green finished on 113-7 from 20 overs – one run more than their score in the first match of the series on Tuesday.

Amy Hunter impressed in a return to form striking 33 from 25 balls, which included four boundaries. The 17-year old Belfast opener was the only batter that seemed to get to grips with conditions playing a mix of deft shots behind square on either side, and several ‘aerial route’ shots which underscored her growing confidence as her innings progressed.

Delany (20), Eimear Richardson (16), Rebecca Stokell (15) and Arlene Kelly (13) all got starts, but wickets fell regularly, denying the visitors the chance to build a competitive total.

In reply, Windies skipper Hayley Matthews top-scored again, this time with 50, as her side powered to victory with 20 balls to spare.

While a fairly straightforward run chase, there was one moment of mild controversy when Matthews struck an uppish cover drive to Lewis’ left. The Dubliner lunged low and appeared to get her hands under the ball, but in the next frame of the replay the ball looked to have bobbled out of Lewis’ grip and touch the grass before the fielder scooped the ball up again. It was a close call, but after several minutes of replay reviewing by the third umpire, not out was given.

The two sides meet again on Saturday at the same venue for the last of three T20Is.

Match tickets are available online from the Windies Tickets service, presented by Mastercard - Tickets.windiescricket.com - at a discounted price of US$6/EC$16 (USS3/EC$7.50 children and seniors) with tickets available on the day at the box office at a price of US$7.50/EC$20 (US$3.75/EC$10 for children and seniors).

For fans unable to get to the games in St. Lucia, the CG United ODI Series will be exclusively live on RUSH Sports in the Caribbean and on BT Sport in the UK & Ireland.  The matches will also be shown around the world on FanCode (India), ESPN+ (USA), Sky NZ (NZ), SuperSport (sub-Saharan Africa) and in all other countries on the Windies Cricket YouTube channel.

T20 International Series: 

All matches start at 5pm Eastern Caribbean Time (4pm Jamaica Time)

Tuesday 4 July: 1st T20I- West Indies won by 2 wickets

Thursday 6 July: 2nd T20I- West Indies won by 8 wickets

Saturday 8 July: 3rd T20