Stafanie Taylor enters record books as West Indies sweep series 3-0

Muneeba Ali’s valiant half-century went in vain as the record-breaking West Indies captain Stafanie Taylor led her team to a clean sweep against Pakistan at National Stadium in Karachi on Sunday (November 14). In the process, Taylor became the third player to go past 5000 ODI runs as the visitors thumped Pakistan by six wickets.



After failing to convert her steady starts into big ones during the first two ODIs, Ali started her innings confidently by playing a perfect pull shot against Aaliyah Alleyne. She and her opening partner Ayesha Zafar went after Chinelle Henry, hitting 21 runs off just two overs, including four boundaries. Alleyne broke thus dangerous-looking 49-run partnership by removing Zafar taking a sharp catch off her own bowling.



The wicket of her opening partner did not fluster Ali who welcomed Hayley Matthews with a lovely cover drive. She swept Shanata Grimmond for a boundary as her captain, Javeria Khan watched from the other end.

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A minor injury in the field forced Khan to retire hurt in the 19th over, allowing Omaima Sohail to partner with Ali who brought up her maiden ODI half-century and her team’s 100 with a straight drive against Qiana Joseph.



West Indies were able to build the dot ball pressure on the pair and it resulted in the prized scalp of Ali straight after the drinks break in the 31st over as Henry took a fantastic diving catch. Khan returned to bat after the wicket but could not add much to the total as she and Sohail were sent back to the pavilion by Alleyne in the same over.



Aliya Riaz and Iram Javed took some time to settle before going on a counter-attack, putting up a partnership of 44 runs for the fifth wicket. Javed was the aggressor of the pair as she hit three fours in her innings before getting caught by Alleyne off Shakera Salman. The 18-year-old Fatima Sana, who replaced Javed got off the mark with a massive six over the cow cover.



Once she got out trying to accelerate, Riaz and Diana Baig clobbered 40 runs from the final four overs to take Pakistan beyond the 200 mark. Pakistan ended their innings with 225 for 7 in the 50 overs with Ali being the highest run-scorer. Selman and Alleyne struck with two wickets each for West Indies.

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West Indies’ chase started on shaky grounds as Anam Amin trapped dangerous Deandra Dottin, who scored an ODI century in the first match of the series, in front for just four runs. West Indies wicket-keeper Williams was undone by the beautiful outswinger from Baig as Ali took a diving catch behind the stumps. Visitors were in deep trouble inside five overs when Amin once again stuck to end Campbelle’s innings, who scored just one run off 13 balls.



From the precarious position of 15 for three in the fifth over, West Indies needed a calm presence in the chase, and luckily, they found it in the experienced duo of Matthews and Taylor. The skipper took her time to get going and supported Mattews, who steadied the chase. Right-hander Matthews went after young pace bowler Fatima Sana taking 14 runs from her third over to bring a partnership of 50 runs with her captain.



Matthews struggled to hit big against the slow-left arm spin of Nashara Sandhu and eventually was caught in the slips against Sadia Iqbal one run short of her half-century. Pakistan were able to break the partnership of 87 runs, but Taylor was standing between them and the consolation win.



Once Matthews got out, Taylor took charge of the chase with Nation. She negated the spin of Iqbal and Sandhu with some strong backfoot punches and cut shots. She reached her half-century by sweeping Sohail for a boundary in the 30th over. Nation on the other end took inspiration from her captain and motored along as the pair put the partnership of 100 runs. A smart cut shot against Iqbal went for a boundary and the West Indies captain brought up her seventh international century in the ODIs. The result after that was a mere formality as Nation completed the white-wash and finished with an unbeaten half-century.



Brief Scores:



Pakistan 225/7 in 50 overs (Munneba Ali 58, Aliya Riaz 44*; Shakera Selman 2/40) lost to West Indies 226/4 in 44overs (Stefanie Taylor 102*, Chedean Nation 51*: Anam Amin 2/45) by six wickets.