All-round Matthews shows the way again as West Indies secure T20I series against Ireland

Hayley Mathews was at it again, leading West Indies with the bat after chipping in with the ball, to take them to a comfortable eight-wicket win over Ireland in the second of three T20Is in Gros Islet to sew up the series.

Like in the first game, where she was Player of the Match for her 3 for 22 and 42-ball 37, which took West Indies to a last-ball win, Matthews was Player of the Match again here. She first returned 1 for 24 to help restrict Ireland to a modest 113 for 7, and then scored 50 in 39 balls, with nine fours, to put West Indies in sight of victory before being dismissed.

Chinelle Henry’s 12-ball 22 and Shabika Gajnabi’s unbeaten 29-ball 17 finished the job for West Indies in 16.4 overs, very different to how tense it got in the first game, where West Indies were chasing an almost identical target, of 113.

“I think we’re pretty happy with the result,” Matthews was quoted as saying by Cricket West Indies after the match. “Coming into this tour, we wanted to be able to take home both series [West Indies won the ODIs 2-0], so just very happy that we were able to go out there and win convincingly today and secure the T20I series. “We had more intent going out today and we noticed early on that the wicket was a bit better on today and we went out with the intent to chase down the runs quicker. What really helped us today was the fielding, the catches and run-outs we were able to take, kudos to the overall team for the bowling performance they put on and the fielders for backing them up.”

Indeed, more than Matthews or any of the other West Indies bowlers – Shamilia Connell and Cherry-Ann Fraser took one wicket each, too – it was the run-outs that stymied Ireland after they had opted to bat. The first wicket, that of Gaby Lewis, was to a run-out, and the collapse from 77 for 3 in the 16th over to 113 for 7 by the end featured three more run-outs.

Amy Hunter, the opener, was the best of their batters on the day, scoring 33 in 35 balls with four fours, while Laura Delany chipped in with a 35-ball 20 and there were cameos at the end from Eimear Richardson (16 in 15 balls), Rebecca Stokell (15 in 11) and Arlene Kelly (13 in nine).

Matthews lost her opening partner Rashada Williams (16 in 20) off the first ball of the seventh over after a 40-run stand, which put them on the road to victory. And after Matthews fell, Henry and Gajnabi took West Indies home with lots to spare.

The tour-ending third T20I will be played on July 8, also in Gros Islet.

West Indies 114 for 2 (Matthews 50, Henry 22*, Delany 1-12) beat Ireland 113 for 7 (Hunter 33, Fraser 1-16) by eight wickets