At North Sydney Oval, West Indies mounted a remarkable
world-record T20I chase to defeat Australia, led by their skipper Hayley
Matthews and assisted by Stafanie Taylor.
Phoebe Litchfield’s equaling of the record for the
fastest fifty in women’s T20Is off 18 balls gave the impression that her
performance would be the one that was discussed, but it was clearly outdone.
Matthews, who was left stranded on 99 in the first
game of the series, raced to a century in 53 balls this time and led her team
to the verge of defeat when she was bowled out for a stunning 132 off 64 balls
in the last over after hitting four consecutive boundaries off Jess Jonassen.
As a result, West Indies needed to score 9 runs off of
7 deliveries, which Shemaine Campbelle and Chinelle Henry were able to do
against Ash Gardner in the last over with one ball remaining. This forced
Australia to add an extra fielder to the ring because of a slow overrate.
With Matthews, Taylor overcame a slow start to
contribute a crucial 59 off 41 balls in a stand of 174 in 14 overs. Matthews
was dropped twice by Australia’s bowlers, on 30 and 87, and they paid the price
since they had any solutions. Matthews exploiting an exposed off-side boundary
consistently will force them to reevaluate their strategy.
Overall, it was the highest scoring women’s T20I in
history with 425 runs and Matthews collected her seven consecutive
player-of-the-match award.