The first One Day International (ODI) of the West Indies tour of South Africa ended in no result today due to persistent rain at The Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg.
South African captain Suné Luus won the toss and elected to bowl first. Luus is leading the team in the absence of Dane van Niekerk who was ruled out of the series due to an ankle injury. The Proteas skipper would have felt her decision had paid off as the West Indies got off to a slow start and the first two wickets of Rashada Williams and Kycia Knight fell cheaply for 1 run each. West Indies captain Stafanie Taylor joined Deandra Dottin at the crease and together the pair began to rebuild the West Indies innings. The pair put on a partnership of 33 runs before Taylor was forced to retire hurt on 12 after she copped a blow on her elbow trying to evade a scorching on-drive from Dottin.
Hayley Matthews then joined Dottin at the crease and together they put on a record third-wicket partnership of 186 runs with Matthews registering her sixth ODI half-century and Dottin powering her way to her third century off 113 balls which included 18 fours 4 sixes. She finished not out on a career best score of 150, which is also the second highest ODI score in history for the West Indies Women. Matthews perished to medium-pacer Klaas after scoring 51 from 63 balls and shortly after, steady rain put an end to the West Indies innings in the 46th over, with the score on 234/3.
Set a revised target of 204 from 29 overs using the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern (DLS) calculation, the Proteas Women stuttered in their reply losing wickets at regular intervals. Senior pacer Shamilia Connell got the prized wicket of the experienced Laura Wolvaardt for just 6 runs, while Hayley Matthews and Karishma Ramharack claimed 2 wickets apiece when the rains came down in the 18th over preventing the West Indies from bowling the required 20 overs to constitute the match.
The West Indies captain would be pleased with the start to the series as she recently called for more aggression from the team and for consistency in scoring around to 230 – 240 mark. The Women meet next on 31 January in the second One Day International.
MATCH SUMMARY
WI-W 234-3 (45.3 Overs)
Deandra Dottin 150* (158)
Hayley Matthews 51* (63)
Shabnim Ismail 1/24
Masabata Klaas 1/59
Ayabonga Khaka 1/55
SA-W 87-5 (17.4 Overs)
Tazmin Brits 33 (37)
Mignon du Preez 19 (13)
Karishma Ramharack 2/18
Hayley Matthews 2/28
Shamilia Connell 1/12
Congratulations to the west indies women team and particularly Deandra Dottin and Haley Matthews. Its a bright start and it augur well for the rest of the tour.