Staff Reporter.
Qiana Joseph recorded a half-century to steer the West Indies to a four-wicket DLS win against the Proteas Women in the opening One-Day International at the Three Ws Oval in Barbados.
The result gives the Windies a 1–0 lead in the three-match series.
Joseph led from the front with an explosive 60 off 58 balls, including 10 boundaries and a six, as the home side chased down South Africa’s total of 232/9. The rain-shortened run chase saw the Windies reach the revised target of 180 in just 32 overs, after the innings was reduced to 34 due to weather interruptions.
The Proteas Women made a promising start, with openers Laura Wolvaardt (27) and Tazmin Brits (57 off 65 balls; 5 fours, 1 six) putting together a solid half-century partnership. However, Wolvaardt was run out in the 16th over, leaving the visitors at 73/1.
Brits carried on, celebrating her second ODI half-century and becoming the second-fastest South African woman to reach 1,000 runs in the format. But just as South Africa approached the 100-run mark, the Windies pounced.
“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 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.”
The series now moves to the second ODI, set to be played on Saturday, 14 June, at the same venue. The match is scheduled to start at 10h00 local time (16:00 SAST).