Summer Rewind: England women dominate West Indies in 5-0 whitewash

A Series Recap

Having not played any cricket since March's cricket world cup, anticipation and curiosity peaked when Heather knight's women took on the west indies in a 5 match t20 series starting 21st September.

1st Match

England won the first match by a comforting 47 runs, with Tammy Beaumont reminding the England selectors why once again why she is consistently one of the worlds leading opening batsmen, plundering 62 runs off 49balls. Aided by Sarah Taylor's successor, Amy Jones blitzed 24 runs with a 150 strike rate propelling England to an above par 163/8.

Despite West indies Sarah Taylor taking 2 wickets the captain could not carry that momentum into her innings struggling to a mere 8 runs. In fact a disjointed batting display from the West Indies showed what seven months out of the game can do with only one Windies' batsmen reaching double figures. It was Deandre Dottin who, unsurprisingly, built 69 runs in a potentially too cautious fashion only scoring the half of her boundaries in the last three overs. However, it was West Indies fragile batting line up which crumbled to just 116/6 all out giving England their first step in a series thrashing.

2nd Match

Unfortunately deja vu struck the Windies hard as once again England walked away with another comfortable 47 run victory. However, this time there was no stand out batsmen for England, although if i had to pick it would be the extremely talented all-rounder of Sarah Glenn. Who scored a fluent 26 with the bat and, supported by the wagging tail of Sophie Ecclestone and Katherine Brunt, drove England to a surprising 151/8 having been teetering on 96/6. Sarah Taylor once again provided a captains performance for the West Indies with stunning figures of 2-12 off four overs almost collapsing England's innings in what was a remarkable bowling performance.

Sadly the achilles heel for the 2016 world champions struck once again with only Dottin (38 of 40) and Taylor (28 of 30) providing any real contribution to a chase which never seemed within the Windies grasp. 'Chase" may also be an ambitious term to describe the West Indies batting, as a slow and befuddled innings with a run rate of just 5.2 never threatened an England side brimming with talent. World number one bowler Ecclestone did justice to her title with figures of 2 for 19 of 4 overs snuffing out any flicker of hope Sarah Taylor's side had of equalling the series.

3rd Match

In a must win game for the Windies, the third match was hotly contested and narrowly won by England, completing the series win. With both openers for England struggling yet again Nat Sciver stood up to the plate breaking her spell of bad form and scoring a series defining knock of 82 from just 61 balls. Ramp shots, reverse sweeps, slog sweep and quick running, Sciver's innings had it all, tearing apart the west indies fatigued bowling attack. Only Connell blunted the onslaught of Sciver who, as former England captain Charlotte Edwards remarked-"wouldn't miss out on a third game".

A shifted batting order still did not solve their batting problems as once again Deandre Dottin's back ached as she carried her side to within a tangible reach of victory. However, her 63 runs was to no avail as the ever reliable veteran Brunt deceived the star batsmen with a slower ball and Fran Wilson did the rest by claiming a simple catch which silenced the Windies bench. The controversial and confusing batting lineup also left captain Taylor coming in too late to mop up what could have been a comeback victory for the West indies. Sarah Glenn however again put forward an inspired performance removing both the set Matthews and struggling Nation to give England the win.

4th Match

With confidence low the Windies produced a surprising early performance as Alleyne tore through the England top order, threatening to reduce the hosts to a sub par total. Unfortunately though poor bowling rotation and confused field tactics Amy jones and Captain Heather Knight punished the touring side scoring at 8.3 runs an over as a 65 run partnership pushed England to their highest score yet.

A similar pattern seems to have emerged from this tour and there is no doubt where the root of the problem is, the batting. With the consistent threat of Dottin removed early by Brunt yet again all confidence seemed to have drained form the Windies as an uninspired batting performance left Stephanie Taylor's team well short yet again at 122/9. The 44 run victory was again supported by the in-form Sarah Glenn snaffling another two wickets with an economy rate of just 5.

5th Match

Just when you thought the rain would be the most depressing part of this final chapter of the series the West Indies bowlers once again provided a calamitous end of innings bowling display. Reduced to just 5 overs a side a thrilling contest begun with the Windies producing a reasonable score of 41/3, again heavily reliant on both Dottin and Taylor.

What followed was a stuttered and ugly innings by England, plagued with some horrendous running but also some decent bowling by the West Indies. However, THREE no balls from 9 balls by Selman handed the hosts the whitewash on a silver platter with a 'your welcome note'. A poor end to what has been a relatively well drilled West Indian fielding side but let down heavily by their batting.

Player of the series: Sarah Glenn

Favourite moment of the series: Amy Jones stumping Sarah Taylor

West Indies player of the series: Deandra Dottin

Key Stats;

Top run scorer: (England) Tammy Beaumont 120 Most wickets: Sarah Glenn 7

Top run scorer: (West Indies) Deandre Dottin 185 Most wickets: Shamila Connell 7