West Indies Women 209 for 5 (Taylor 105*, Iqbal 2-47) beat Pakistan Women 205 for 9 (Dar 55, Zafar 46, Taylor 3-29) by five wickets
Captain Stafanie Taylor's all-round brilliance led West Indies Women to a five-wicket win in the first ODI against Pakistan Women in Antigua. Taylor picked three wickets after electing to bowl, to restrict the visitors to 205 for 9 and then slammed a 116-ball unbeaten 105 to chase down the target almost single-handedly.
Spinners dominated the day as Taylor combined with offspinner Anisa Mohammed to pick up five wickets. Openers Muneeba Ali and Ayesha Zafar were off to a strong start, posting 70 for no loss, before a run out sent the former back. Anisa then picked up two wickets to hurt Pakistan further. Nida Dar stepped up to steady Pakistan's innings with a 71-ball 55 but Taylor struck at the other end to leave them on 170 for 6. Thanks to Dar's efforts - with not much help from the tail - Pakistan crawled to a modest total. Taylor finished as the most economical bowler, picking 3 for 29 from her 10 overs.
West Indies' chase did not get going initially with openers Hayley Matthews and Kyshona Knight falling for 16 and 8 respectively, but Taylor's entry in the 12th over turned the tide. She kept the boundaries flowing as she hit seven fours to bring up her fifty, off 62 balls. She kept the momentum going even as a couple of wickets fell at the other end, and brought up her century in the next 52 balls; her sixth overall in the format. She shared a 46-run stand with Chedean Nation for the fifth wicket and an unbeaten 42-run partnership with Britney Cooper before hitting a boundary to seal the win in the 48th over.
Taylor's century came after a gap of nearly eight years. Her last hundred in ODIs came in October 2013 when she struck an unbeaten 135 against New Zealand in Kingston. Between then and now, she slammed 21 half-centuries in ODIs.
"You know I've been dreaming of this day, to finally pass that five hundreds and finally make it six, I'm really happy," Taylor told CWI media after the match. "I said to myself that I know I'm always in this position (with wickets down) and I like batting in 50-over games so it's a matter of getting myself in and once I know I get myself in and somebody else on the other end batting, we should get the runs."
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