Roseau, Dominica — A superb knock by Merissa Aguilleira took West Indies Women to a hard-fought victory over India Women in the third T20 International at Windsor Park on Wednesday.
The courageous captain remained calm under pressure to make the topscore of 39 not out as the home side reached 86-4 off 19.4 overs to win with two balls to spare after limiting the visitors to 83-7 off 20 overs. The leading bowler for the Windies was off-spinner Stafanie Taylor, who had 2-16 off four overs.
The 26-year-old wicket-keeper batted with some discomfort and had to receive treatment for a right hamstring injury during her innings. She came in with the team in trouble at 10 runs for three wickets and played confidently for an hour, faced 48 balls and hit two fours. It was her highest T20 International score surpassing her previous best of 26 made against Sri Lanka in St Kitts in April, 2010.
Speaking after the match Aguilleira said she was “well pleased” with the performance. She added the next step is to win again on Thursday and take an unassailable 3-1 lead in the five-match series.
“I had to fight really hard today. I had to be brave. I had to fight the pain. My hamstring gave me some problems but we will have that fixed and I will be ready for tomorrow’s match. I am well pleased that I was able to stay at the crease and do the job for the team. For me it is always all about the team. We were in a hole and as captain I knew I had to stand there and bat to the end,” she said.
“It is always good to lead from the front. Today we lost some early wickets but we still had plenty time in the game when I went in. I am not a power-hitter so I was able to settle in and work the ball into the gaps and build an innings. That was ideal for me … yes, there was the pressure of losing wickets, but time was on my side and I was happy with the way I stayed there and guided the team to victory.”
She added: “We have chance to wrap up the series with a win tomorrow and we will be going all out to do that. It will be tough, we are playing against a higher ranked team and they are very competitive, but we are also a good team and we believe we can do it tomorrow. We are aiming to win this (T20 Series) and also the other one (One-Day Internationals). We know we can do it.”
The fourth T20 International will be played at Windsor Park on Thursday at 2 pm.
CONGRATS TO THE LADIES,HOPE THE MEN TAKE HEED FROM THIS COMMITTMENT,,,HEY GREAT PIC DNO,WOW,SO MANY DIFFERENT EMOTIONS/EXPRESSIONS CAPTURED IN THAT MOMENT, ,EVERYONE HAS A DIFFERENT REACTION,,,,,dOMINICA HAS DONE IT AGAIN,,,GREAT HOST AND ORGANIZATIONAL SKILLS,,,,,WAITIN PATIENTLY FOR THE AUSSIES,,IF I HAVE TO SLEEP WITH FAMILY IN ONE ROOM TO PROVIDE ACCOMODATION I READY,,dOMINICAND HERE AND OVERSEAS THUIS IS OUR MOMENT STAND AND BE COUNTED—THAT IS THE NEXT LEVEL YES I
i want it to rain so the game can start at 3:30 so i will get a chance to see some cricket. i only saw 2 overs bowled yesterday
damn! even women’s cricket gets a crowd in DA. and antiguans want to talk betisse! is dem tings de wicb watching. GO DA! We love our game!
Can we get a wider view shot of the crowd in the stands for these games. This will put a lot of things into perspective.
THIS WAS A HARD FOUGHT WIN.WELL DONE WEST INDIES
congratulations to the west indies women and to vriket at large… however the greatest applauds are reserved to the dominican public who continues to be a great support to west indies cricket. hope the west indies board realises how well we [d/ca] continue to market their product with attractive crowds and stop treat us as 2nd class west indies citizens and continue to provide us with opportunities to host games on their annual calenda
Go Windies Go! Show them how it’s done.
congrat ladies wish you best of luck in future games
well dominica really is the hub of cricket now eh… even women cricket getting crowd… thanks to the chinese for the stadium…. just wish they wouldn’t put their foo dogs on the bridge
Good comment. In 2008 I take my own ears and hear sibo say we will not get international cricket anytime soon because we dont have enough pitches. and a lot more so called cricket analys had all negative views about the picth and stadium. Today we are first choice. if it were up to them dominica would not move an inch. Them partician we have here
LOL. This is too funny. I agree, though. Where else in the Caribbean you see China put up something and they erect foo dogs. Only in Dominica.
What is wrong with you Dominicans always talking nonsense. The Foo Dog is good luck for Dominicans don’t cut your nose to spite your face.
Your first sentence sounded marvelous but you made a fool of yourself with the last sentence.
ou pa las di zordi? stop talk nonsense dread!!!!!!!!! what the chinese n foo dogs have to do with ur bread on your table? i bet ur a man stupid mouth of the south i from the south too and i not sot like you!! cricket is cricket whether is man woman or child so what you trying to say? a womens cricket canna get crowd? bat cor tan mouth of the south lets go W.I women the men dem couldnt win a match here but u did
A job well done to the windies women team…all the best tomorrow.