I was so happy to see my Caribbean women in action today, facing off against India. It was a surely dissapointing outcome as we were defeated today, India won by 7 wickets with 45 balls to spare. Our batting once again was our major downfall, not getting enough runs on the board against a team that has a tremendous batting line up.

At the toss the Indians won and opted  to have a bowl first, the Indian spinners were remarkable today overwhelming the West Indian women. Top scoring once again for the Windies women was Hayley Matthews, who top scored with 43 runs. The middle order was crippled by the Indian spinners, this was hard for me to watch seeing them being dismissed one by one. At this point of the match batting, 121-7 after 40 overs. Towards the end of the innings, Shanel Daley and Afy Fletcher tried their best to give the Windies a challenging score. The last over of the innings Fletcher struck 20 runs inclusive of 3 4s, leading the Windies to a 183 total from their 50 overs.

Photo Courtesy: Getty Images – Top scorer for the Windies today, Hayley Matthews.

Returning from the break, the Windies bowlers started on a good note removing 2 Indian wickets early in the innings. Shamilia Connell struck in the first over removing Punam Raut as she played one to the wicketkeeper, being dismissed for a duck. Stephanie Taylor was next to claim a wicket after  she bowled Deepti Sharma. From here on Smriti Mandhana took control and hammered the Windies bowlers. In total there were eight bowlers used by the West Indies squad, none of them could cause damage. Mandhana reached her 2nd ODI hundred and 1st in a world cup at just 20 years old, striking 13 4s and 2 6s in her knock remaining not out on 106. The Indians got to their total comfortably, ending on 186-3 after 42.3 overs. Fantastic win by the Indians today.

Photo Courtesy: Getty Images – Mandhana celebrates after she got to her hundred.