England Women beat West Indies by eight wickets in opening T20 international
Danni Wyatt top-scored with 59 as the visitors took just 13 overs to chase down the hosts’ total
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Your support makes all the difference.England have beaten the West Indies by eight wickets in their opening T20 international at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua.
The West Indies took the full 20 overs to finish 105 for seven, with the visitors only taking until the 13th over at North Sound to notch 106 for the loss of just two.
Sophia Dunkley and Lauren Winfield-Hill were run out for 25 and 15 respectively, while Danni Wyatt collected six boundaries en route to top-scoring for the day with 59 not-out.
England, who had secured a clean sweep of victories in their three-match ODI series, won the toss and elected to field.
Lauren Bell claimed her first T20 international wicket when she bowled opener Aaliyah Alleyne for two with the final delivery of the second over.
Bell then caught Kycia Knight off Natalie Sciver for a two-ball duck before captain Hayley Matthews was bowled by Katherine Brunt as she attempted a reverse sweep over the stumps to leave the West Indies at 19 for three.
Djenaba Joseph – making her senior team debut after promotion from the under-19s squad – was stumped by Amy Jones and Rashada Williams’ rapid knock of 23 from 26 balls was ended when she was run out by Wyatt.
Bell claimed another wicket with her next delivery as Shemaine Campbelle (10) was caught by Winfield-Hill, the hosts reduced to 60 for six in the 13th over.
After finally pushing the scoreboard on, Shabika Gajnabi (13) became Bell’s third victim when she was caught by Sciver.
Chinelle Henry’s quickfire unbeaten 21 and eight from Afy Fletcher helped West Indies reach 105 at the change of innings.
Following the visitors’ win, Wyatt said her side had wanted to start the series “with a bang”.
“Lauren Bell and Katherine Brunt really set the tone there with the ball,” the England batter said.
“The girl’s bowled exceptionally well under the lights, we spoke about playing with intent, being brave and entertaining and that’s what we did with the bat as well.”
Wyatt added: “We’re really excited to get to Barbados! Obviously we’ve loved our time here in Antigua, being on the same pitch for all four games made it a little difficult to bat on out there but we found a way and it’s all about picking the bowlers you want to take down and just having good intent as well as backing yourself and that’s what we did tonight.”
England had secured a clean sweep of victories in their three-match ODI series
Teenage all-rounder Freya Kemp was ruled out of the five T20 matches because of a back problem.
The second T20 match will be on Wednesday at Kensington Oval in Barbados.
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