PERTH, Australia: The West Indies overcame a batting stutter to defeat gallant debutantes Thailand by seven wickets ion their opening match at the women’s Twenty20 World Cup on Saturday.
The 2016 champions appeared set for an expected easy victory after restricting Thailand to a modest 78 for nine off their 20 overs.
But the West Indies struggled at 27 for 3 in the chase before captain Stafanie Taylor (26 not out) and Shemaine Campbelle (25 not out) chased down the total with 20 deliveries to spare.
Naruemol Chaiwai’s spectacular run out of opener Lee-Ann Kirby for three highlighted Thailand’s impressive fielding performance.
Thailand, the lowest-ranked team in the tournament, are making their debut at a cricket World Cup — men’s or women’s — after a fairytale run in qualification.
But captain Sornnarin Tippoch’s decision to bat in overcast conditions backfired on the famed bouncy WACA pitch.
Wicketkeeper-batswoman Nannapat Koncharoenkai played a lone hand with a determined 33 but lacked support as Thailand’s inexperience showed, losing 32 for seven in the backend.
West Indies will need to improve at the top of the order to go deep into the 10-team tournament, but they did what they needed to, said Taylor, who was named player of the match.
“The way they are playing they might cause an upset,” she said of her Thai opponents.
The Thai women’s next Group B match is on Wednesday against England in Canberra at 3pm local time.
“We are happy, I think we played well,” said Sornnarin. “We wanted to score around 120. We will try to get more than 100.
“The fast bowlers bowled short and it’s something we must learn. We need to work on areas to get the runs. It’s not our day today, it’s something to work on.
“Our strength is as a bowling and fielding side. We will try our best every day. We enjoyed it too much! We were were waiting for this for a long time. I’m so happy. I’m proud of our team. We will get better.”