BRIDGETOWN, Barbados – West Indies dominated from start to finish to beat England by eight wickets in the Grand Final of the Women’s T20 International Tri Series on Saturday night.
Playing in front a colourful crowd of 4,000 at Kensington Oval, the Windies restricted the visitors to 115-5 off their 20 overs. They then marched to 119-2 – to win with 19 balls to spare.Stafanie Taylor won the Player of the Match award. She had the excellent figures of 4-1-8-1 with her off-spin and then made 51 not out – her 11th half-century in this format. She added an unbroken third-wicket stand of 78 with Deandra Dottin.
The powerful Dottin ended on 46 not out off 35 balls including a six and a four boundaries – the final one which took West Indies to victory. She was named the Virgin Atlantic Player of the Series – for her 156 runs in five innings at a strike rate of 133.33.
“In the end to win by eight wickets with three overs to spare, would seem a bit easy, but I can tell you it was not easy,” West Indies Head Coach Sherwin Campbell said after Saturday’s match.
“We played well from start of the tournament to finish and the girls deserve this victory. They earned it as a result of their hard work and dedication. Tonight I am very proud of this team…the way they prepared and how they went out and executed the game-plan.”
West Indies captain Merissa Aguilleira was also pleased.
“This is a great result for us and congratulations to everyone who contributed to this fantastic result. We came here for this tournament and we knew once we played to our potential we would win,” she said after accepting the trophy.
“This is another one of the steps we are taking as we look to become the best team in the world. We will celebrate this tournament as we also look ahead to bigger and better things to come in the future.”
Before the final both teams were met by Alan Isaac, President of the International Cricket Council and Whycliffe ‘Dave’ Cameron, President of the West Indies Cricket Board.
West Indies and England traveled to Trinidad and Tobago yesterday where they will play three One-Day Internationals at Queen’s Park Ova