A change in format, a change in fortunes for West Indies Women? Not so much. These are the former World T20 champions but once again – as they had already done in all three of the ODIs this summer – England trampled all over them with the bat, racing to 180-6 off their 20 overs. In return West Indies sank to 138-9, the eventual margin of victory 42 runs.
To give them their due, West Indies – who could easily have collapsed without trace after the loss of two quick wickets up top – did at last show the kind of fight which had been so lacking in the ODI leg of the tour. In particular, Stacy-Ann King batted with ferocious intent, plundering seven boundaries for a 34-ball 43 – the highest West Indian score of the tour so far – while Chedean Nation (32) joined the party with two huge sixes over deep mid-wicket.
The pair eventually both fell in the 13th over, though not before they’d given England a bit of a scare. Ultimately, it was Linsey Smith who chipped in with a match-defining over – King trying one big hit too many, and caught at deep mid-wicket, before Smith then enacted a run out of Chedean Nation backing up four balls later. Earlier the left-arm spinner had also removed dangerwoman Hayley Matthews: not bad for her first outing of the international summer.
The contrast with West Indies own efforts in the field was striking. Had you advised the visitors to work on one thing after the ODI series, it would have been their fielding: so often this tour, they have looked like they would rather be anywhere but running after a cricket ball amidst a rainy English summer. But while the sun shone on them on Friday, little else seemed to have changed.
England’s effort was founded on a 67-run opening partnership from Amy Jones and Danni Wyatt: yet West Indies could easily have snaffled the wickets of both in the opening five overs. Hayley Matthews induced Jones into coming down the pitch in her opening over, only for keeper Kycia Knight to fumble a golden stumping opportunity behind the stumps. Shamilia Connell, meanwhile, induced several plays-and-misses from Wyatt before finally finding the edge – only for it to go begging, the culprit once again Knight behind the stumps.
The worst was still to come: seven balls later, standing at mid-off, Chinelle Henry grassed a sitter from the bat of Wyatt, and so the tone was set.
Henry eventually broke the partnership in the ninth over, Jones dragging the ball onto her own stumps; while Tammy Beaumont came and went rapidly, deceived by the leg-spin of Afy Fletcher. Wyatt, though, simply added salt into Henry’s wounds, ruining her figures (she eventually conceded 33 runs off her four overs), and bringing up her 38-ball half-century against the demoralised bowler.
Incredibly, this was not even Wyatt at her best: it was an effort more streaky than sweet. Nonetheless she reached 81 (55 balls), her highest T20 score in front of a home crowd; falling only in the penultimate over, wafting a delivery from Connell straight into hands of backward point. In the meantime Nat Sciver (31) and Heather Knight had both made contributions of their own – Knight cementing her newfound reputation as a finisher with an 11-ball 22. It all looks rather ominous for West Indies when the series – and their summer – reaches its conclusion at Derby on Tuesday.
