West Indies women start off with tense win

West Indies women started off their World T20 campaign with a tense four-run win over Pakistan in a Group-B clash here on Wednesday.

After being put in, the three-time semifinalists laboured to a paltry 103, but in the end it proved just about enough.

Skipper Stafanie Taylor led from the front with the bat as she shepherded the innings without allowing the spinners to tie her down, scoring 40 from 48 balls that included five boundaries.

Then, experienced off-spinner Anisa Mohammed restricted Pakistan to 99 with a three-wicket haul and in the process she reached 100 international T20 wickets.

Javeria struck on the jaw

Pakistan’s chase got off to a disastrous start when opener Javeria Wadood was struck on the jaw while trying to shy away from a bouncer off pacer Shamilia Connell in the fourth ball.

Wadood was taken to a local hospital for a precautionary CT scan. Barring the opening partnership between Bismah Maroof and Sidra Amin, the Pakistani middle-order struggled to rotate the strike that piled on the pressure towards the end of the innings.

Skipper Sana Mir and Asmavia Iqbal provided a late flourish, but with 12 needed from the last over, Deandra Dotin’s disciplined effort saved the day for West Indies.

Earlier, Pakistani left-arm tweakers Anam Amin and Sadia Yousaf made good use of the spinning track as they claimed six wickets between them. However, a couple of dropped catches in the end proved costly for Pakistan.

The scores: West Indies 103 for eight in 20 overs (Stafanie Taylor 40, Anam Amin four for 16, Sadia Yousaf two for 14) bt Pakistan 99 for five in 20 overs (Sidra Amin 20, Bismah Maroof 22, Anisa Mohammed three for 25).