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Proteas women fall to West Indies in opening ODI

football11 June 2025 22:35| © MWP
By:Ross Roche
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The Proteas women fell to a four-wicket DLS defeat in the rain interrupted opening ODI against the West Indies Women at the Three Ws Oval at Cave Hill in Barbados on Wednesday.

After the hosts won the toss and chose to bowl, the Proteas managed a below par 232-9 in their 50 overs, setting the Windies 233 to win.

However a rain delay during their chase saw the players go off for a few hours, and a revised target of 180 off 34 overs set, which they reached with two overs to spare.

In the chase the Windies were set up by openers Qiana Joseph, 60 off 58 balls (10x4; 1x6), and captain Hayley Matthews, 40 off 44 (4x4; 1x6), while veteran Stafanie Taylor saw them home with an unbeaten 30 off 34 (2x4; 1x6) at the end.

Proteas youngster Ayanda Hlubi impressed on the bowling front, the 20-year-old was slightly expensive but picked up key wickets, finishing with 3-50 from her seven overs.

“It was probably not our best effort overall today, we got caught on the back foot a bit. We had our plans in place but didn’t quite execute, so we will go look back at the little phases of the game where we could have been a lot better,” said a disappointed Proteas captain Laura Wolvaardt after the match.

“I felt we were about 30 runs short. Had a decent start, lost our way in the middle and then left the tail with too much to do.

“It was a frustrating time for it to come (the rain delay). I feel like we were just swinging momentum back in our favour, and then an eight over game at the end is obviously not ideal.

“But we wanted to get back on the park and finish the game on the field. So we can’t make that (rain) excuse, we had 75 overs to be better in that game.”

FLYING START

The Windies chase got off to a flying start thanks to Joseph and Matthews, as they shared in an 88-run opening stand in under 14 overs.

Hlubi then made the breakthrough, having Matthews caught by Annerie Dercksen, which started a Proteas fightback as they picked up four wickets for 39 runs.

Joseph fell next, caught by Ayabonga Khaka off Hlubi, Realeanna Grimmond (5) was caught by Tazmin Brits off Nondumiso Shangase, and Chinelle Henry was run out by keeper Sinalo Jafta after poor running between the wickets as they slipped to 127-4.

At that stage the hosts still needed 106 to win off 25 overs, but in the next over the rain came down and chased the players from the field for a couple of hours.

On their return Taylor and Shamaine Campbelle (10) started off their chase of the reduced target well, but Hlubi then picked up her third, bowling Campbelle with the score 152-5.

But that was as good as it got for the Proteas as Taylor and Jannillea Glasgow (12) took their side to within one of victory, when Glasgow was caught, followed straight after by the winning single to get them over the line.

PROTEAS IN A PICKLE

Earlier in the Proteas innings, the visitors twice found themselves in deep trouble, before a late flourish helped them get to a below par but defendable target.

Brits at the top of the order struck 57 off 65 balls (5x4; 1x6), Nadine de Klerk hammered 42 off 38 (3x4; 2x6) at the end and in the middle Sune Luus hit 32 off 53 (2x4).

The Proteas innings got off to a slow, if steady, start as Wolvaardt (27) and Brits settled into a 73-run opening partnership, with them bringing up the 50 in the 11th over.

Just as they were looking to kick on, Wolvaardt ran herself out, as Brits hit a ball from Matthews to Grimmond at long on, with her whipping a throw back to the bowler, who broke the stumps with Wolvaardt’s dive unable to save her. (73-1).

Shangase (2) joined Brits at the crease and they added 21 to the total, which included the opener bringing up her half century in style in the 19th, pumping a full toss from Afy Fletcher for four, and a few balls later coming down the wicket and launching her for six over deep square leg to reach the mark.

But the hosts then fought back, striking three times in five overs as the visitors suddenly tumbled to 105-4.

Shangase was run out after a disastrous mix-up with Brits, who followed in the next over, pulling Karishma Ramharack straight to Grimmond at deep midwicket, and Dercksen (4) was dropped on two but couldn’t capitalise as she was bowled by a ball that kept low from Fletcher.

That brought Jafta (20) in to join Luus and they briefly threatened a fightback, with a 40-run fifth-wicket stand.

But another flurry of wickets set them back again as Jafta popped Matthews to Aaliyah Alleyne at point, Luus got pinned in front by Ramharack and Chloe Tryon (9) skied a full toss from Alleyne to keeper Campbelle as they slipped to 168-7.

With them looking in danger of being bowled out, De Klerk and Khaka (18) produced a superb counter-attacking eighth-wicket partnership of 60 off 56 balls, to get their side over the 200-run mark.

Khaka, who came into the game with a batting average of just 4.92 in 49 innings and a highest score of 15, played a fantastic back-up role, hitting boundaries and rotating the strike, while she allowed De Klerk to make merry, crunching boundaries all around the ground.

Khaka was finally removed in the penultimate over, stumped by Campbelle off Alleyne, while De Klerk was caught at long on by Henry off Glasgow in the final over.

PROTEAS WOMEN: Laura Wolvaardt, Tazmin Brits, Nondumiso Shangase, Sune Luus, Annerie Dercksen, Sinalo Jafta, Chloe Tryon, Nadine de Klerk, Nonkululeko Mlaba, Ayanda Hlubi, Ayabonga Khaka

WEST INDIES WOMEN: Hayley Matthews, Qiana Joseph, Realeanna Grimmond, Stafanie Taylor, Chinelle Henry, Shemaine Campbelle, Jannillea Glasgow, Aaliyah Alleyne, Zaida James, Afy Fletcher, Karishma Ramharack

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