Guyanese trio, Shabika Gajnabi, Mandy Mangru and Kaysia Schultz showed promise for West Indies Women’s A against Pakistan Women’s A in the first T20 match in North Sound Antigua. Gajnabi made an unbeaten 20 while Mangru and Schultz had one wicket each.
Ayesha Zafar unbeaten 40 and two wickets apiece from Aimen Anwar and Rameen Shamim guided Pakistan Women ‘A’ to a seven-wicket win. The visitors chased down the 97-run target in the 19th over courtesy a solid 40-run opening partnership between Ayesha and Umaima Sohail (21 off 33, two fours). After the departure of Umaima, Ayesha was joined by Kainat Imtiaz and the pair knitted 23 runs for the second-wicket before Kainat fell to Kaysia Schultz for six with scoreboard reading at 63 for two.
Captain and wicketkeeper-batter Sidra Nawaz (0 off one) was next to go without troubling the scoreboard. Ayesha’s unbeaten innings included four fours which came off 45 balls.
Earlier, a disciplined bowling performance by Pakistan had restricted the hosts to 96 for eight after Sidra’s decision to bowl first after calling correctly at the toss.
The hosts were provided what looked a promising start by captain Reniece Boyce and Rashada Williams before the former was dismissed by pacer Aimen Anwar in the fifth over. Rameen’s two wickets in her successive overs – 10th and 12th – initiated a collapse as West Indies lost three wickets for seven runs. She finished with two for 10 from four overs.
The 13th over brought the crucial wicket of Williams, who top-scored in the innings with 33 off 39, thanks to pacer Maham Tariq.
The hosts had lost their half of the batting line-up for 70 and were 74 for five after 16 overs when rain briefly interrupted the play.
Upon the resumption of the play, they could add only 22 more runs and lost three wickets. Following a string of dots, Aimen picked up her second wicket as she dismissed Cherry-Ann Fraser, Steffie Soogrim was stumped off Sadia Iqbal and Caniesha Isaac was run out on the last ball.
Summary Scores Pakistan Women ‘A’ beat West Indies Women ‘A’ by seven wickets. West Indies Women ‘A’ 96-8, 20 overs (Rashada Williams 33, Shakibi Gajnabi 20 not out; Rameen Shamim 2-10, Aimen Anwar 2-22). Pakistan Women ‘A’ 98-3, 18.5 overs (Ayesha Zafar 40 not out, Umaima Sohail 21)
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