Monday Mar 23, 2026
Monday Mar 23, 2026
Friday, 27 February 2026 00:02 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
West Indies Women’s Captain Hayley Matthews scored her 10th ODI century to prevent Sri Lanka Women from making a clean sweep of the three-match women’s ODI series.
Riding on Matthews’s hundred, West Indies secured a six-wicket win in the final match of the series, which Sri Lanka won 2-1. The win also gave the West Indies their first points in the new Women’s Championship cycle.
Sri Lanka had already secured the series but couldn’t clinch a whitewash as Matthews dominated. She started the match by removing her opposite number Chamari Athapaththu in the first over of the contest and then compiled a 118-ball hundred (13 fours, 1 six), which took West Indies most of the way in their chase.
The home side was in early trouble in St. George’s against a target of 218 with Qiana Joseph and Shemaine Campbelle falling to Malki Madara to leave West Indies 12-2. But after taking 12 balls to find her first boundary, Matthews did not look back as she took charge of the innings, adding 124 off 154 balls for the third wicket with Stafanie Taylor (38), who moved second on the all-time run-scorers list in ODIs.
Matthews’ fifty came from 48 balls before she slowed a little in the second half of her innings, but the asking rate was never a threat for West Indies. She did give a chance on 70 when Nilakshika Silva was unable to hold a return catch. The ball after reaching the century, though, Matthews picked out deep midwicket but a stand of 49 off 58 balls between Deandra Dottin (24*) and Chinelle Henry (32*) finished the job.
Following the early loss of Athapaththu, Sri Lanka’s innings was anchored by Harshitha Samarawickrama’s 70 off 112 balls (7 fours). She added 78 off 118 balls for the third wicket with Vishmi Gunaratne (26), but Sri Lanka struggled to lift the scoring rate in the latter stages as West Indies chipped away, with Karishma Ramharack removing Gunaratne and Samarawickrama in the space of four overs. Sri Lanka eventually reached 217-7.
Matthews was named Player of the Match and Samarawickrama took the Player of the Series award for her 171 runs in the series.
The two teams will commence a three-match WT20I series at St George’s starting tomorrow.
Scores:
Sri Lanka Women 217-7 (50) (Hasini Perera 27, Harshitha Samarawickrama 70, Vishmi Gunaratne 26, Kavisha Dilhari 45*, Hayley Matthews 2/33, Karishma Ramharack 2/39)
West Indies Women 218-4 (46) (Hayley Matthews 100, Stafanie Taylor 38, Chinelle Henry 32*, Deandra Dottin 24*, and Malki Madara 2/33).
