West Indies edge home by one wicket

West Indies women 179 for 9 (Taylor 43, Dottin 41, King 40, Colvin 4-24) beat England women 176 for 9 (Greenway 61) by one wicket
Scorecard

West Indies women pulled off a major surprise as they completed a series victory against world champions England with a nail-biting one-wicket victory in the third ODI in St Kitts. Chasing 177 for victory West Indies were indebted to a seventh-wicket stand of 87 between Deandra Dottin and Stacy-Ann King which resurrected the innings from 66 for 6.

The hosts' chase had begun in deplorable style. Katherine Brunt and Isa Guha, England's new-ball pair, quickly reduced West Indies to 2 for 2 before Holly Colvin trapped the captain Merissa Aguilleira for 14 and induced and edge from Shanel Daley to make it 57 for 4. The opener Stephanie Taylor weighed in with 43, but the dismissal of Chedean Nation for 0 left the chase hemorrhaging at 66 for 6.

From here King and Dotting breathed life back into the chase, batting sensibly to keep singles ticking over, but the momentum lurched again when Colvin returned and dismissed King for 40 with 24 still needed for victory. Shemaine Campbelle went four runs later and Dottin followed for a 60-ball 41 at 162 for 9, leaving Anisa Mohammed and Shakera Selman to chase 15 more runs. The last pair stuck it out and played smart cricket, waiting for the loose deliveries, and sealed the win in the 47th over.

England, after opting to bat, had similarly faced a poor start when they slipped to 66 for 4. Lydia Greenway, back in the side after sitting out the previous match with a thigh strain, propped up the innings with 61 from 84 balls but a total of 176 did not quite prove enough.

King, whose innings earned her the Player-of-the-Match award, was duly elated about her contribution. "I'm feeling on top of the world right now," she said. "I have not been getting the scores I was looking for but today I knew I had to deliver. Our backs were against the wall, but we wanted this badly… we really, really wanted to beat England and win this series.

"When I came together with Deandra we decided we would look for singles, twos and threes rather than go in the air and that worked out really well. We were always ahead with more balls than runs, so we never felt the need to go over the top . We were laughing out there and enjoying it, so winning feels really good."

Sherwin Campbell, the coach, "a big result for us and for West Indies cricket" and singled out a collective unit as key to the series success. "The players have worked very hard all year and are getting the success they deserve," he said. "To beat the world champions is very good but what is more important is that we planned our strategy and we played well.

"The more matches we play the better we are becoming. The girls are learning how to play as a team unit and how to play for each other. Today we did not panic. We bowled and fielded well and when it came to the batting we did the job. I always tell my players, from No. 1 to No. 11, that they are all batters and they will have a role to play. Today we saw that. Everyone chipped in."

England captain Charlotte Edwards congratulated the home team on their performance: "I was disappointed with the result today but I don't want to make excuses for our performance or take anything away from the our opponents, they played well and there are some really good players in their team," she said. "We've got a Twenty20 series to get ready for now and we'll make sure we come back fighting on Monday."

Mark Lane, the England coach, reflected on the three-match series: "Naturally I'm disappointed to have lost today and to lose the series 2-1 but I have got a very good team of girls who are working hard on all areas of their team," he said. "Lydia Greenway had a superb knock today and showed tremendous guts to play through her injury. Holly Colvin bowled well and we just lost our way towards to the end of the match. We're looking forward to getting back out there again on Monday for the Twenty20 series and giving a good account of ourselves."

The two teams will now play three Twenty20 games on November 9, 10 and 12.