Scotland slumped to a second successive defeat at the Women’s T20 World Cup as the West Indies coasted to a six-wicket win in Dubai.
Kathryn Bryce’s side, who suffered a 16-run loss to Bangladesh in their Group B opener, were limited to 99 for eight and the West Indies raced to victory inside 12 overs despite Scotland spinner Olivia Bell impressing with two for 18 off three overs.
Scotland won the toss and elected to bat first but were soon in trouble at 13 for two against the 2016 champions as openers Saskia Horley and Sarah Bryce fell cheaply.
Although Ailsa Lister, who was dropped three times as she made 26, and captain Kathryn Bryce (25) tried to give the innings some momentum, that was checked when Afy Fletcher dismissed Lister and Priyanaz Chatterji with successive balls in the 13th over.
Fletcher (three for 22) also sent back Scotland’s skipper and while Lorna Jack-Brown (11) and Darcey Carter (14 not out) edged Scotland up towards 100, their total never looked like being a competitive one.
However, Scotland gave themselves hope as Rachel Slater dismissed West Indies opener Stafanie Taylor in the first over of the reply and Chatterji sent back captain Hayley Matthews for eight inside the powerplay.
But Qiana Joseph tore back the momentum for the West Indies with 31 from just 18 deliveries and, after she fell to Bell, Deandra Dottin finished off the job with an unbeaten 28 off just 15 balls with two fours and two sixes – one of which was a huge shot over midwicket for the winning runs.
It proved a comfortable first victory of the tournament for the West Indies, who had suffered a 10-wicket loss to South Africa in their opener, and further dents Scotland’s hopes of progress to the knockout stage.
Scotland’s next Group B match is on Wednesday against South Africa, who were runners-up to Australia in last year’s tournament on home soil.
“It was a pretty good performance in the field, we felt in the game, but with their firepower it was going to be tricky,” Scotland captain Bryce said during the post-match presentations.
“We didn’t get a good start, and did not get any momentum in the middle, the slow outfield meant boundaries were hard. 120 would have been a good score, but with a low total like that you have to take every opportunity.
“It is a difficult stage to be trying things out out there, but it is a big learning curve taking this forward.”
The comprehensive win sees the West Indies boost their net run-rate as they prepare to face Bangladesh on Thursday.
“We did pretty well, we limited the boundary balls as much as possible. There are areas we can still improve on, but the bowlers were able to bowl to their fields today,” West Indies captain Matthews said.
“Just take one game at a time. We have two crucial games, so if we win we can get into the semi-finals.”
