It was Deandra Dottin’s sensational bowling in the final over that helped West Indies clinch first victory in the first WODI World Cup match beating New Zealand by just three runs. Later the Windies skipper Stafanie Taylor revealed how Dottin herself asked for the ball in the last over.
A brilliant century from Hayley Matthews at first helped West Indies set a target of 260 for New Zealand. Matthews played a brilliant knock of 119 off 128 as the middle-order also chipped in with contributions. However, the White Ferns skipper played a captainsque innings after losing her opening partner Suzie Bates for mere 3. Sophie Devine scored 108 off 127 and set the tone of the chase for New Zealand Women. After Devine’s dismissal Katie Martin (44) and Jess Kerr (25) were all set to pull it off. The last over saw a brilliant spell from Dottin as she picked up two wickets conceding just two runs in five balls and also contributed in a run-out to steal a nail-biting victory for her side.
At the presentation, Taylor said, “The way we played today, set the game up for us. We needed to get over 200, we had a meeting and thought we had to get over 200 to be competitive. That’s for the coaches who decides now (who opens once Rashada Williams is fit), it was quite hard for her to come to the top but we told her she was the best option to open and she agreed. New Zealand is a good chasing team, but we can’t focus too much on them, we need to focus on ourselves.”
She revealed, “We knew we could put up a fight, and it was kind of tricky in terms of who to bowl for the last over, and Deandra said she wanted the last over and she did it. Selman was supposed to bowl the last, and Deandra said “give me the ball”. I said, “you and the coach can discuss later what happens, I’ll give you the ball”. The bowlers were doing really well, they were brilliant. Expectations from them) We like to fly under the radar, one step at a time.”
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