Dottin, all-round Matthews headline West Indies' convincing win as cricket returns to Pakistan

International cricket returned to Pakistan with the first ODI of the three-match series between the hosts and the West Indies at the National Cricket Stadium in Karachi on Monday (November 8). Deandra Dottin celebrated it with a magnificent century and registered her career-best score in ODIs, while Hayley Matthews shared a 118-run stand with her before taking three wickets as the visitors clinched a convincing win.



Put into bat, West Indies openers Dottin and Rashada Williams started cautiously with Fatima Sana and Amin bowling a maiden each upfront. Dottin broke the shackles with a couple of boundaries off Sana in the third over and didn’t look back from there.



At the other end, Williams struggled against the left-arm spinners as another maiden from Amin ended the power play with West Indies score reading 42 for no loss. In the 12^th over, Amin eventually accounted for Williams as she castled the opener for 15 off 40 balls. Number three Kyshona Knight had to retire hurt and Stafanie Taylor came and went early as she fell to Nashra Sandhu for just six.



Dottin was going at a good pace and brought up her fifty from 55 balls. Batting at five, Hayley Matthews started fluently with a boundary off Aliya Riaz through the off-side before repeating the feat twice against Sandhu. Dottin didn’t spare Sandhu either as she hit her for two maximums in the 26^th over.



Pacers Sana and Kainat Imtiaz couldn’t contain the duo as they found boundaries at regular intervals with only the slow left-arm spin of Sadia Iqbal managing to keep them quiet. Dottin took a single off Imtiaz in the 37^th over to take the partnership to the 100-run mark and Matthews followed it up with her fifty.



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The 30-year-old Dottin reached her second century in ODIs from 123 balls – both came against Pakistan - with a couple off Sandhu and opened up against Imtiaz with two more boundaries.



Amin came back into the attack to break the partnership of 118 runs with the wicket of Matthews. Dottin and Shemaine Campbelle added some quick runs and with the score reading 235 for three in 46.4 overs, West Indies were looking on course for a mammoth total.



However, Amin got the prized scalp of Dottin when she trapped the allrounder in front of the wicket. She dismissed two more West Indies batters in her last over to take her first five-wicket haul in ODIs and two wickets from Sana in the final over meant the visitors ended their innings on 253 for eight from their 50 overs.



For Pakistan, Amin finished with an impressive haul of five for 35, while Sana picked up two despite going for runs.



In pursuit of a record chase, Pakistan didn’t start well as they lost Sidra Ameen early in the second over bowled by Shakera Selman. Muneeba Ali and Ayesha Zafar hit a few boundaries before the latter became Selman’s second wicket. Even though Ali played some eye-catching shots, the southpaw once again failed to convert the start and fell for 28 when she skied Anisa Mohammed to Taylor at long-on.



From 51 for three, Iram Javed played a counter-attacking knock to keep Pakistan in the hunt for a while. She started with two consecutive boundaries off Mohammed before taking on other spinners as well. Despite Imtiaz struggling at the other end, Javed peppered the off-side and found boundaries at will. She lofted Qiana Joseph for a four and then hit Taylor for back-to-back fours.



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Just as it looked like Javed will continue her assault, Matthews removed her for a 34-ball 40 with a smart return catch. Once the right hander went, Pakistan’s innings went downhill as Matthews sent Imtiaz back as well in the 28^th over. Although Riaz and Sidra Nawaz added 43 runs for the sixth wicket, they couldn’t keep up with the mounting required run rate.



Once Nawaz was dismissed by Joseph, Riaz played a few aggressive shots before getting run out for 46 off 60 balls. Pakistan eventually finished on 208 for nine at the end of the fifty overs, going down by 45 runs.



For West Indies, Matthews was the most successful bowler with three wickets to her name.



Brief Scores: West Indies 253/8 in 50 overs (Deandra Dottin 132, Hayley Matthews 57; Anam Amin 5/35) beat Pakistan 208/9 in 50 overs (Aliya Riaz 46, Iram Javed 40; Hayley Matthews 3/31, Shakera Selman 2/35) by 45 runs