Australia women beat West Indies in T20I

Sydney, Nov 2 (IANS) The Australian women's cricket team defeated the West Indies by four wickets in the first of the four Twenty20 Internationals at the North Sydney Oval here Sunday.

After being sent in to bat, the West Indies put on 113/7 from their 20 overs which Australia chased down with seven balls to spare, finishing at 117/6. Aussie all-rounder Jess Jonassen was named player of the match for her knock of 46 and figures of 1/27.

Stafanie Taylor (52) and Deandra Dottin (24) anchored the West Indies’ innings before they were caught out in the 18th and 12th overs, respectively. Leg spinner Kristen Beams did much of the damage as she picked up 2/15 while Rene Farrell (1/13), Sarah Coyte (1/17) and Jonassen claimed a wicket each.

Jonassen and captain Meg Lanning (24) contributed the bulk of runs to their side’s chase with their 50-run partnership setting up the win. Vice-captain Alex Blackwell’s knock of 11 pushed her career total T20 runs past 1000, making her only the second Australian women’s cricketer to achieve this feat behind Lanning.

Blackwell also recently became the most capped Australian woman cricketer and played her 190th international match Sunday.

Brief scores: West Indies 113/7 in 20 overs (Stafanie Taylor 52, Deandra Dottin 24; Kristen Beams 2/15) lost to Australia 117/6 in 18.5 overs (Jess Jonassen 46, Meg Lanning 24; Anisa Mohammed 3/25, Hayley Matthews 3/26).