ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2020: Clinical West Indies outplay Thailand; Sophie Devine shines in New Zealand's win over Sri Lanka

Perth: West Indies displayed a clinical performance to defeat Thailand by seven wickets in the ongoing Women’s T20 World Cup on Saturday at the WACA. Chasing 79, West Indies openers Hayley Matthews and Lee-Ann Kirby put on 19 runs for the first wicket, but Thailand got the first breakthrough of Kirby (3) through some brilliance on the field. [caption id=“attachment_8075131” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] West Indies displayed a clinical performance to defeat Thailand by seven wickets. ICC Media[/caption] Soon after, Hayley Matthews (16) and Deandra Dottin (2), were also sent back to the pavilion, reducing Windies to 27/3. Skipper Stafanie Taylor and Shemaine Campbelle then got together at the crease and ensured that Windies does not suffer from any more hiccups. The duo took the side over the line by seven wickets and with 20 balls to spare. Earlier, a spirited bowling performance helped Windies restrict Thailand to 78/9 in the allotted twenty overs. Opting to bat first on their World Cup debut, Thailand lost their opening two wickets with just 11 runs on the board. Nattaya Boochatham (2) and Nattakan Chantam (9) both failed to leave a mark. West Indies kept on taking wickets at regular intervals and Thailand struggled to create any sort of momentum. Nannapat Koncharoenkai top-scored for Thailand as she played a knock of 33 runs, but her dismissal in the 18th over derailed the innings and in the end, Thailand only managed 78 runs in the allotted twenty overs. Stafanie Taylor picked up three wickets for West Indies. Brief Scores: West Indies 80/3 (Stafanie Taylor 26*, Shemaine Campbelle 25*, Soraya Lateh 1-22) defeat Thailand 78/9 (Nannapat Koncharoenkai 33, Naruemol Chaiwai 13, Stafanie Taylor 3-13) by seven wickets. Sophie Devine shines in New Zealand’s 7-wicket win over Sri Lanka Skipper Sophie Devine’s unbeaten knock of 75 runs enabled New Zealand to defeat Sri Lanka by seven wickets in the Women’s T20 World Cup at WACA. Chasing a below-par total of 128, Kiwis had the poor start as they lost opener Rachel Priest cheaply for six runs. Suzie Bates and Sophie Devine built the second wicket partnership of 40-run. The former was scalped by Kavisha Dilhari in the 11th over. She played a brief knock of 13 runs. Maddy Green joined Devine in the middle and stitched a 61-run stand and guided the side get past the 100-run mark. Green played an innings of 29 runs and was bowled out by Chamari Atapattu in the 17th over. Katey Martin joined Devine in the middle. The duo put their side over the line and remained unbeaten. Earlier, New Zealand won the toss and asked Sri Lanka to bat first. Skipper Chamari Atapattu’s 41 runs and Harshitha Madavi’s unbeaten 27 runs enabled the side to post a respectable total of 127/7 in allotted twenty overs. Hasini Perera (20) and Anushka Sanjeewani (15) were among others who scored some runs on the scoreboard. For Kiwis, Hayley Jensen bagged three wickets and returned to the figures of 3-16 in four overs. She was awarded the Player of the Match for her performance.