West Indies 242 for 4 (Matthews 100, Taylor 100*, Maguire 2-52) beat Ireland 241 for 7 (Hunter 67, Stokell 57, Dottin 2-15) by six wickets
A 106-run partnership between half-centurions Hunter (67) and Stokell (57) had arrested the slide for Ireland. In the 41st over, Stokell departed when she fell to legspinner Afy Fletcher, on a day when she was otherwise the most expensive West Indies bowler, going at a run rate of 7.44 in her nine overs.
In the next over, Matthews returned to snare out Hunter too. Ireland had suddenly slid from 180 for 3 to 188 for 5, but they still scored 53 runs in their final eight and a half overs, propelled by cameos from Leah Paul (32) and Alana Dalzell (17*).
Once Matthews came out to open in the chase of 242, there would be no repeat heroics from the West Indies opening stand: Grimmond fell in the first over to Prendergast.
However, there would be no respite for Ireland thereafter. Matthews and Taylor, batting at No. 3, put together a 158-run partnership for the second wicket. Matthews brought up her second consecutive century off 92 balls, hitting 14 fours and two sixes along the way. She fell in the 26th over, to Louise Little, but Taylor kept the charge up.
Aimee Maguire took back-to-back wickets with West Indies cruising through their chase, taking out Dottin and Jannillea Glasgow to leave West Indies at 199 for 4. Still, they needed just 43 off 94 balls at this point, and Taylor ensured there were no further hiccups as she up brought her own 104-ball century with a four, then a six.
Dalzell followed up, on the next delivery, by bowling a no-ball with just one run left to defend. This extra – Ireland’s 14th – handed West Indies their series win with a game still left to play, on July 15 at the same venue.
