Venue : W.A.C.A. Ground, Pert
Toss : Thailand Women won the toss and opt to bat
Squad
West Indies
Playing: Hayley Matthews, Lee-Ann Kirby, Stafanie Taylor (c), Deandra Dottin, Shemaine Campbelle (wk), Chedean Nation, Chinelle Henry, Aaliyah Alleyne, Anisa Mohammed, Afy Fletcher, Shamilia Connell
Bench: Britney Cooper, Cherry Ann Fraser, Sheneta Grimmond, Shakera Selman
Thailand
Playing: Nattakan Chantam, Nattaya Boochatham, Nannapat Koncharoenkai (wk), Naruemol Chaiwai, Chanida Sutthiruang, Sornnarin Tippoch (c), Wongpaka Liengprasert, Onnicha Kamchomphu, Ratanaporn Padunglerd, Suleeporn Laomi, Soraya Lateh
Bench: Rosenan Kanoh, Phannita Maya, Thipatcha Puttawong, Suwanan Khiaoto
Thailand’s maiden match
Thailand makes their debut match in the World cup series. Chantam and Boochatham are at the crease, Chantam is on strike. Chinelle Henry opens the attack for West Indies. As this is their first match in International tournament they struggled to show up. Soon they lose their opener Boochatham for two runs. Nannapat Koncharoenkai paired up with Chantam and expect to perform a much needed strike. But soon West Indies acheived an another break through by uprooting Chantam for 9 runs.
Thailand lose its both the opener and seems to be helpless. Naruemol Chaiwai who is the wicket keeper of Thailand enters the crease and pair with Koncharoenkai. This duo added 35 runs for the next wicket of Chaiwai who return to pavilion for 13 runs. Hayley Matthews fires in a yorker from round the wicket.
Koncharoenkai- last hope for Thailand
Sutthiruang while try to hit a round-armish full ball wide of off from round the wicket, chiped it straight back to the bowler. Koncharoenkai is the only hope for Thailand to add some runs and end their first game with a descent score. But the remaining players failed to build a partnership with Koncharoenkai. Taylor picked couple of wickets in 15th over and that added benefits for West Indies. Atlast Afy Fletcher scatters Thailands hope by uprooting Koncharoenkai’s(33runs) wicket followed by a run out of W Liengprasert. Team Thailand fold up for just 78 runs in 20 overs.
At the toss Stafanie Taylor  mentioned that she would like to restrict Thailand under 100 and her team have succeeded in doing that.
West Indies played without pressure
With an easy target of 79 to chase down Hayley Matthews and Lee-Ann Kirby get in the crease. Hayley Matthews is on strike, Boochatham opens the attack. Pressure builds over Thailand when Lateh spell 3 wides in the second over. Inspite of the low target the lose balls from Thailand shows they are playing under-pressure.
Without any rush West Indies played the match in a steady format. Lee-Ann Kirby sent to pavilion by run out due to the poor running while try to take a single. Stafanie Taylor(right handed) West Indian’s captain walk to the crease and pair with Hayley Matthews. In the fifth over Lateh uproot the Hayley Matthews’s wicket by a clean bowled.
Campbelle at her 100th T20I
In the very next over Dottin lose her wicket while tries to take single. Count as second run out of the match for West Indies. This builds some pressure over West Indies as they lose three wickets for 27 runs in seven overs. Campbelle joins hand with captain Taylor and decide to play a steady game as the path to victory seems glorious. This is her 100th T20I match- a milestone acheivement for Campbelle.
This duo added 48 runs in total and paved the way for the victory. With a boundary West Indies win the match with 7 wickets in hand.
Player of the match
Stafanie Taylor(West Indies)
Batting : 26 from 37 ball
Stafanie Taylor : The bowling I felt was good but while batting I felt I just couldn’t get the ball off the square. But had to hang in there. I had decided with Campbelle we need to take our team through. We need to take our time to get used to the wicket. I keep telling my coaches that give me lesser bowlers and that I guess makes me feel that I need to bowl everyone.
👉 3/13
👉 26*
✅ One happy captain!A selfie with Stafanie Taylor, Player of the Match for her all-round performance. #T20WorldCup | #WIvTHA pic.twitter.com/LsPkpBwFKM
— T20 World Cup (@T20WorldCup) February 22, 2020
Captain’s view
Sornnarin Tippoch:Â We are happy that we did well. Actually, we wanted to get around 120 but we couldn’t. They bowled short and we need to learn to deal with it. We need to keep improving on so many areas. Our bowling and fielding was excellent. We enjoyed ourselves. Had been waiting for this.
Stafanie Taylor:Â For them it is very special. Once they keep playing, they will keep getting better. When we played Australia and India back in the Caribbean, it wasn’t great. The bowlers bowled really well. Shamilia Connell has been working a lot with Courtney Walsh and she was brilliant. We always look at dot ball percentage. That is a factor for us and we need to work on it. We need to make sure that we are rotating the strike. We need to be tough on ourselves.
pic.twitter.com/nPwhWbwVPZ They started the game with showing a humble gesture and they end the game with a humble gesture as well. #spiritofcricket #T20WorldCup | #WT20WC | #WIvTHA
— Female Cricket (@imfemalecricket) February 22, 2020
