Windies women swept in ODI series

VADODARA: Deepti Sharma and Renuka Singh ripped through the West Indies women’s batting to lead India women to a comfortable five-wicket win and a sweep of the three-match One-Day International (ODI) series at the Kotambi International Cricket Stadium on December 27.

Player-of-the-Match Sharma bagged six wickets – her second five-wicket haul in ODIs – and Singh, who was named Player-of-the-Series, captured the other four as the home side dismissed the Windies for a below-par 162 in 38.5 overs.

Chinelle Henry, in her first game of the series top scored with 61 and Shemaine Campbelle made a gutsy 46.

Despite a few hiccups, India wasted little time in getting to their target, with Sharma returning to score an unbeaten 39 to guide them to 167/5 in 28.2 overs.

Having lost the first two matches chasing totals over 300, the West Indies chose to bat first this time around after winning the toss, but it did not solve the team’s batting woes.

They endured yet another dreadful start with Qiana Joseph edging the first ball of the innings, a harmless delivery down the leg side by pacer Singh, into the hands of wicketkeeper Richa Ghosh.

And five balls later, captain Hayley Matthews was back in the pavilion for a two-ball duck, bowled by a vicious inswinger from Singh, to leave the Windies one run for two wickets.

Deandra Dottin drove Titas Sadhu down the ground for a boundary, but Singh bowled her in the next over attempting an ill-advised heave to see the visitors slump to 9/3.

However, a 97-run partnership between Henry and Campbelle brought the Windies right back into the match and gave them hope of posting a competitive total.

They both started slowly, before Campbelle unleased a series of delightful drives and Henry broke the shackles by launching Tanuja Kanwar for a massive six over long on.

Campbelle then turned her attention to leg-spinner Priya Mishra, hitting her for consecutive boundaries in the 17th over.

Henry, who missed the first two ODIs because of injury, moved into the forties with another huge six off Kanwar, but after guiding the Windies to three figures Campbelle was caught at long on trying to hit Sharma out of the ground.

Zaida James’ stay at the crease didn’t last long, scoring just one run before Sharma had her caught at slip to make it 102/5.

Henry would eventually bring up her third ODI half century off 62 balls, when she guided Kanwar to third man for two runs.

She then added 39 runs with Aaliyah Alleyne, but once she was bowled by Sharma, it sparked another collapse that saw the West Indies lose their last five wickets for 21 runs, with Sharma being the main destroyer, accounting for the wickets of Alleyne, Afy Fletcher and Ashmini Munisar.

Sharma ended with 6/31 and Singh took 4/29.

The West Indies started positively, with Alleyne removing Smriti Mandhana cheaply for the first time in the series for two and Dottin dismissed last match hero Harleen Deol for one, to leave India 23/2.

And when Matthews snagged the wicket of Pratika Rawal for 18 and Fletcher bowled captain Harmanpreet Kaur for 32, India were in a spot of bother at 73/4.

Sharma then came to her side’s rescue again, first adding 56 with Jemimah Rodrigues, who made 29 and then featuring in an unbroken 38-run partnership with Richa Ghosh, who made an unbeaten 23, to carry the home side to victory and ensure the series sweep. CMC

Summarised Scores:

WEST INDIES 162 (38.5 overs) (Chinelle Henry 61, Shemaine Campbelle 46, Aaliyah Alleyne 21; Deepti Sharma 6/31, Renuka Singh 4/29) vs INDIA 167/5 (28.2 overs) (D Sharma 39 not out, Harmanpreet Kaur 32, Jemimah Rodrigues 29; Deandra Dottin 1/27. India won by five wickets.