WI women score narrow T20 victory

AHMEDABAD, India (CMC):

A Steady bowling spell from Tramayne Smartt and Anisa Mohammed helped West Indies women level their three-match Twenty20 international series with India's women, following a tense, three-run victory yesterday.

Smartt was the pick of the Windies women's bowlers with three wickets for nine runs from three overs and Mohammed supported with two for 17 from four overs, as India were restricted to 104 for eight from their allocation of 20 overs in the second T20I at the Sardar Patel Stadium.

The result meant that the series is now level 1-1, with the deciding match scheduled for today at the same venue.

Juliana Nero continued her fine form to hit seven boundaries in the top score of 44 from 45 balls and Stafanie Taylor added 21 to lead the Windies to what looked like an inadequate 107 for seven from their 20 overs.

Most prolific batters

Nero and Taylor, the Windies' two most prolific batters on the trip, added 54 for the second wicket after Deandra Dottin, promoted to open the batting, was dismissed for a duck off the second ball of the match off India's captain Jhulan Goswami.

But the rest of the Windies batting was again undermined by the leg spin of Priyanka Roy. She captured four wickets for 19 runs from her allotment of four overs.

Smartt then set the Indians back early when she bowled Rumeli Dhar for four in the third over and from this point the home team failed to build momentum in their chase.

Windies knew they were in control when three Indian wickets - two to Mohammed - fell for 12 in the space of 28 balls, to leave the hosts wobbling on 49 for four.

The visitors continued to mount the pressure, although Harmanpreet Kaur led the way with 33 and Poonam Raut got 30 and there was little substance and stability from the rest of the Indian batting.

WEST INDIES (maximum 20 overs)

D. Dottin c Sharma bGoswami 0J. Nero c Ray b Roy 44S. Taylor st Lobatto b Roy 21S. Campbelle c Sultana b David 1S. King st Lobatto b Roy 7T. Smartt st Lobatto b Roy 0S. Daley b Malhotra 10+M. Aguilleira not out 13A. Mohammed not out 7Extras: (lb1, w3) 4TOTAL: (7 wkts, 20 overs) 107

P. Etienne, S. Selman did not bat

Fall of wickets: 1-0 (Dottin, 0.2 overs), 2-54 (Nero, 10.2); 3-57 (Campbelle, 11.1); 4-66 (King, 12.2); 5-66 (Smartt, 12.4); 6-86 (Daley, 15.4); 7-88 (Taylor, 16.3)

Bowling: Goswami 4-1-20-1, Dhar 1-0-12-0, Sharma 2-0-8-0, Sultana 3-0-18-0, David 4-0-21-1, Roy 4-0-19-4, Malhotra 2-0-8-1

INDIA (target: 108 off 20 overs)

P. Raut c and b Mohammed 30R. Dhar b Smartt 4M. Raj b Campbelle 8H. Kaur lbw b Smartt 33P. Roy c Dottin b Mohammed 0A. Sharma run out (King) 3D. David stAguilleira b Taylor 3R. Malhotra not out 11J. Goswami c Nero b Smartt 3+S. Lobatto not out 3Extras: (lb2, w2, nb2) 6TOTAL: (8 wkts, 20 overs) 104

G. Sultana did not bat

Fall of wickets: 1-14 (Dhar, 2.5 overs); 2-37 (Raj, 6.6); 3-49 (Raut, 11.1); 4-49 (Roy, 11.3); 5-70 (Sharma, 14.1); 6-79 (David, 15.2); 7-95 (Kaur, 18.1); 8-99 (Goswami, 18.6)

Bowling: Selman 2-0-21-0, Taylor 4-0-23-1, Smartt 3-1-9-3, Mohammed 4-0-17-2, Campbelle 4-0-12-1, Daley 2-0-14-0, King 1-0-6-0

Result: West Indies Women won by three runs

Series: Three-match series level 1-1

Toss: West Indies Women

Umpires: K. Doodhwala, A. Palia

TV umpire: P. Khakhar

Matchreferee: N. Jogalekar