West Indies Women took a 1-0 lead against India Women after a tight 1-run victory in the first One Day International at Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, North Sound in Antigua. Stafanie Taylor, the West Indian captain was the star with her all-round show as Anisha Mohammed picked up five wickets including two in the final over to restrict India just one run behind West Indies total.
Batting first West Indies Women posted a respectable 225/7 in their 50 overs. The opener Natasha McLean scored her second ODI fifty and controlled the first half of the innings. Once McLean was dismissed Taylor and Chedean Nation added 78 runs in the fourth wicket. Nation was dismissed for 43 as the veteran Jhulan Goswami provided the break through. However Taylor was set and helped her team to add 70 runs in last 10 overs. Taylor was dismissed on the last delivery of the match for 94. For India Shikha Pandey and Deepti Sharma took two wickets each.
Indian openers batted for more than 20 overs and added 78 runs to provide a solid start. Jemimah Rodrigues was the first to go for 41 as Taylor provided the break through. The other opener Priya Punia was involved in two more partnerships as she added 46 with Punam Raut and 46 with Mithali Raj before becoming Mohammed’s first victim of the day. Punia scored her second ODI fifty and was dismissed for 75. At that stage India required 56 runs in less than run-a-ball but Mithali was stumped in the 42nd over and India started losing regular wickets as Harmanpreet Kaur could score only five. Deepti Sharma provided some stability with her 19 off 22 balls but she became Mohammed’s third victim in the 48th over. India still required 17 runs in that stage with three wickets in hand. India lost Pandey in the 49th over and Ekta Bisht in the first ball of the 50th over. Goswami was there at the other end and she took India to touching distance with her 14 off 12 balls. Poonam Yadav had to face the last ball of the 50th over and required at least a run for a tie. However, Poonam’s slice went straight to Stacy-Ann King in the point who did not make any mistake.
The teams will meet at the same venue on Sunday for the second ODI.
Brief score:
West Indies women 225 for 7 (Taylor 94, McLean 51, Nation 43, Pandey 2-38, Sharma 2-41) beat India women 224 (Punia 75, Rodrigues 41, Mohammed 5-46, Gajnabi 2-25, Taylor 2-30) by one run