West Indies v England – 5th T20
Charlie Dean will recall this match with pleasure. She celebrated her 22nd birthday on December 22, 2022 and at one point had an analysis of 2-2 off 2 overs. Will she be altering her lucky number?
At last the series came to an end. After three ODIs and four T20s, both teams might have been forgiven for thinking of other things, perhaps even Christmas.
But first a fifth and final T20 beckoned. Could the Windies finally wrestle a win from the ashes of a losing tournament? The answer was a resounding NO, England dismissing them for their lowest ever total in T20s, a whole 16 runs short of their previous mark (59-9).
Courtney Walsh had been introducing new young hopefuls (18 and 19-years-old), but none of them could turn a game, despite their obvious promise. The pity is the performances of the senior players couldn’t show them the way. They may be looking over their shoulders now, as the visitors inflicted their longest losing run ever on them.
The Windies have a tri-series in January with India and S Africa, but the coming U19 World Tourney will prove more useful for Walsh and his staff as they continue their rebuild.
By the half-way stage the Windies had descended to 28-6. The lower order did a shade better, helped in the knowledge that they had to hang around to use up all the overs available. They failed by 3.4 overs.
Djenaba Joseph was the only batter to reach double figures (11). By the twelfth over (35-8) the bowlers had already achieved four maidens.
Heather Knight’s captaincy was masterful throughout; she set two slips for her quicks and even for Dean. Attack! was the dish of the day.
The Reply
The English openers will be annoyed at the two wickets that fell, Danni Wyatt in particular departing when one shot short of the target. For the first time in the series Sophia Dunkley didn’t reach double figures, misreading Hayley Matthews’ slower ball. All the same, the 14.3 overs left unused rank as an all-time record for them.
Once more the bowlers didn’t help their cause. In the 5.3 overs completed, they offered five wides while five fours were struck.
Though the series was so one-sided, it had its uses for England. Jon Lewis had a first glance at his options; players old and young made advances, led by Charlie Dean with her eleven wickets. Such was England’s bowling dominance (Davies 3-2, Davidson-Richards 3-5, Dean 2-8, Sciver 1-4) that Sophie Ecclestone almost looked like a fill-in bowler – almost. She took only three wickets in the series but was as mean as ever, causing batters to misread line, length and speed of delivery.
So the Caribbean tour finished as an 8-0 drubbing, leaving the hosts a million miles from their glory days of 2016 as world champions.
Result:
West Indies 43 (16.2 overs)
England 44-2 (5.3 overs)
England win by 8 wickets
Player of the Match: Freya Davies (2.2-1-2-3)
Player of the Series: Charlie Dean (11 wickets in her first T20 series)
Teams:
West Indies:
Hayley Matthews (captain), Aaliyah Alleyne, Djenaba Joseph, Rashada Williams, Shabika Gajnabi, Trishan Holder; Kyshona Knight, Afy Fletcher, Cherry-Ann Fraser, Sheneta Grimmond, Karishma Ramharack
England:
Sophia Dunkley, Danni Wyatt, Nat Sciver, Heather Knight (captain), Amy Jones, Alice Davidson-Richards, Maia Bouchier, Sophie Ecclestone, Charlie Dean, Issy Wong, Freya Davies
