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England 318 for 9 (Knight 94, Jones 91) beat West Indies 110 (Nation 42*) by 208 runs
Before this match, West Indies captain Stafanie Taylor had bemoaned the lack of so much as a full-time masseuse within her team’s set-up. And, as a number of the visiting players stood round their dugout grimacing and clutching at aches and pains after a torrid afternoon in the field, it was clear much more would be needed to cure their ills.
Not that Taylor was making any excuses in her candid interview with ESPNcricinfo, in which she also revealed that her passion as a competitor often brought her to tears just talking about her game. Taylor described her team’s sloppy performance in the field on Thursday as “atrocious”. England could also improve in the field, with four chances missed, but the difference between these two sides was staggering as her opposite number, Heather Knight, and Amy Jones led an impressive team performance.
Katherine Brunt was at her best, claiming two wickets in two balls, while Sophie Ecclestone and Laura Marsh claimed three apiece as West Indies were bowled out for a paltry 110, Chedean Nation running out of partners with an unbeaten 42.
On the basis of this showing at Grace Road, much will need to change – possibly too much – for West Indies to be competitive in the second match of their three-ODI series in Worcester on Sunday.
Knight and Jones fell agonisingly short of centuries but, by both reaching the nineties, they set West Indies an insurmountable target – England’s 318 for 9 was their highest ODI score against West Indies – and made an emphatic statement to ICC Women’s Championship table leaders Australia ahead of next month’s Ashes.
Tammy Beaumont set the foundation, seeing the ball magnificently to plunder 32 off 28 balls, including six fours, but her innings came to a premature end when she lofted Hayley Matthews over mid-on only to find Shakera Selman just inside the boundary. Beaumont and Jones had taken England past 50 inside seven overs with Jones hinting at her form when she smacked the first ball of the innings – a Selman full toss – over the leg-side boundary for six.
It was one of two maximums for Jones, who also hit 10 fours on a good batting wicket with a fast outfield. After Sarah Taylor fell cheaply, Jones and Knight took total control and during passages of play appeared to be picking off boundaries at will. Jones brought up her fourth half century in a row but only briefly raised her bat to mark the moment. Her maiden ton remains elusive after she fell on 91, three runs shy of her best score, driving Matthews towards mid-off where Stacy-Ann King jumped and raised her left hand above her head to almost casually pluck the ball from the air.
Knight reached 94 off as many balls with 13 fours and appeared annoyed with her tame dismissal, a top edge off Afy Fletcher that went straight to Shamilia Connell at fine leg. But she and Jones had put England in an excellent position and a neat cameo from Nat Sciver bumped the score up further.
As her team threw themselves about for little reward amid a flurry of uncharacteristic miss-fields, Taylor had a bright moment when she clean bowled Brunt, who tried to smack the ball onto the leg side but found herself out of position as the ball took the top of her off-stump. England lost four wickets in the last five overs and Knight was disappointed the total wasn’t nearer 340 but, against the opposition, they had more than enough.
“It’s hard to swallow,” Taylor said. “I didn’t think we bowled to our plan and I think it cost us. The English girls are quite good when you look at their batting lineup, it will take a lot more discipline to get those girls out.
“The fielding was atrocious today … it’s sad to say. It’s a matter of going into the team room and discus what we need to discus and let it out and let this game go. We have two more games to go so hopefully we can bounce back.”
Brunt had a brilliant opening spell with figures of 5-2-6-2, claiming the wickets of Matthews and Shemaine Campbelle with the fourth and fifth balls of the eighth over of the innings.
West Indies never really got going and when Ecclestone uprooted Kycia Knight’s off-stump to claim her first wicket, there was worse to come for the visitors. Ecclestone had Kyshona Knight and King out in consecutive overs and West Indies were 73 for 6 after 25. Marsh got amongst the wickets and, when she knocked over Connell’s off-stump it was game over.
Knight said: “We’ve talked about hitting the ground running in series, something that hasn’t probably been a strength of ours as a squad, so to put in that sort of performance in the first game of the summer, I’m really chuffed.
“I think we’re actually disappointed with 318 in the end. If one of me and Amy was there in the last five overs we could have pushed that up to sort of 340 and we want to keep pushing that bar in terms of scoring big.”
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