Teenager Stafanie Taylor and Shanel Daley provided vital performances for West Indies as they snatched a narrow two-wicket win over South Africa in their opening ICC Women's World Cup match yesterday.
Player-of-the-Match Taylor grabbed four wickets with her off-spin to help restrict South Africa to 116 all out in 45.2 overs and Daley top-scored with 26 as the Caribbean side squeezed to victory at 117 for eight off 48.4 overs at the No.1 Sports Ground.
"We are very happy and all the girls worked hard for this," West Indies captain Merissa Aguilleira said after the tense victory.
"We knew what we had to do and we came out and did it," she added.
The result was crucial for the West Indies, putting them in pole position to get into the Super Six round as one of the top three of the four teams in Group A competition.
With both teams still to play the powerful Australia and New Zealand teams, the South Africans are now under immense pressure to avoid finishing bottom of the table, which would relegate them to the seventh/eighth-place play-off against the bottom-placed team from Group B.
Impressive figures
The 17-year-old Taylor, who attends Eltham High in St Catherine, tormented the South Africans after they won the toss and chose to bat first.
Recording the impressive figures of four for 17 off 8.2 overs with two maidens, Taylor pressured the South Africans and triggered a late order collapse that saw them lose their last six wickets for only nine runs.
Only opener Alicia Smith offered any significant resistance, scoring 46 that came off 109 balls and included four fours. She was the fourth batter out at the score of 94 in the 38th over.
There was a wicket each for the West Indies pacers Kirbyina Alexander (1-11), Debbie-Ann Lewis (1-17) and Shakera Selman (1-26).
The West Indies' response was very guarded and even unconvincing at times, but they battled to the end and secured victory with just eight balls to spare.
They made a shaky start when they lost both the openers at the score of 16 but recovered through a 45-run third-wicket stand between the 20-year-old Daley (26) and Stacy-Ann King (13). Daley faced 67 balls and struck three boundaries in her top-score.
The West Indies' run-rate slowed badly when Afy Fletcher, the Caribbean side's leading scorer in last week's warm-up matches, compiled nine runs off 70 balls and the experienced Cordel Jack hit 19 off 52 balls in a pedestrian middle-order effort that gave the South Africans hope.
No rush
Captain Aguilleira scored eight off 22 balls and Alexander (1) and Anisa Mohammed (0) were at the crease when the West Indies achieved their win.
"We knew we could take our time (getting the runs), the girls didn't rush anything. Even though it took a long time at the end of the day, we came away with the win," Aguilleira said after the victory.
Taylor was run out for nine as opener and defended the team's cautious approach to reaching the target.
"We were very confident (in reaching the target), but while chasing small totals anything could happen," she said.
"I'm very pleased with my performance and happy with the win," she added.
In the other Group A match Sunday, New Zealand upset defending champions Australia at North Sydney Oval.
New Zealand won by 13 runs on the Duckworth/Lewis method after Haidee Tiffen (57) and Amy Satterthwaite (38) led them to 205 all out in 48 overs.
Australia replied with 132 for six off 33 overs as Kate Pulford picked up three for 32 for the Kiwis.
Group A competition continues tomorrow, with West Indies facing New Zealand and Australia meeting South Africa.