BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – THE ICC World Twenty20 women’s tournament was set ablaze today (May 5) by an unprecedented performance from West Indian Deandra Dottin, who smashed an unbeaten 112 from 45 balls, the first ever century in the women’s form of the game.
It was a historic day at Warner Park for Dottin and the West Indies as they defeated South Africa by 17 runs in the tournament’s opening match.
South Africa chose to field first and made early inroads when they picked up quick wickets from Stafanie Taylor and Cordel Jack to put West Indies at an uncomfortable 12/2 before the second over was completed.
Opening batswoman Juliana Nero finally found support from the lanky Britney Cooper as the duo stopped the flow of wickets with a 37-run partnership before the former was stumped by Trisha Chetty. Cooper was dismissed in the next over and West Indies stood at a less than promising 52/4 when Dottin headed for the crease in the 10th over.
Fortunately, the 18-year-old from Barbados did not take long to make her mark and shut down the South African seemers. Piercing the gaps with nearly every ball she faced, Dottin asserted herself with force and riled the spirit of the small, but vocal crowd.
After feeling out the boundary with three fours, Dottin launched two massive sixes over the Windies dugout to bring the stadium to a fever pitch. Having been at the crease for 26 minutes, Dottin then reached her half century with a well-placed four to the C.A. Paul Southwell Media Centre.
The boundary seemed to signify that Dottin was not content to rest at the half-century mark and this was quickly proven true, as it only took her 13 more balls, including a spell of four sixes in the 16th over, to reach her century.
South Africa missed a golden opportunity to send Dottin packing in the 17th over as she stood near 80 and edged a ball short, but the easy catch was dropped and the West Indian never looked back.
Though South Africa had the unenviable task of chasing West Indies’ 175/5, the squad put in a good effort and was rarely at an unreachable distance in the run rate. This was largely due to an 84-run partnership between Captain Cri-zelda Brits and opener Shandre Fritz.
The duo gave a gutsy chase that eventually cost them in the 16th over as they were both run out in rapid succession. It was the beginning of the end for South Africa and West Indies safely bowled the remaining overs, forcing the visitors to a total of 158/4.
Dottin’s performance, which ultimately contained seven fours and nine sixes, was also the fastest century in the history of the World Twent20 tournament, an honour she took from West Indies’ male Captain Chris Gayle.
Despite the toppling of records, Dottin said it was a “normal” performance for her and she simply did what the team needed to win.
“I knew I had to go out there and stay for my team. I knew I had to put runs on the board to prop us up so we could defend. After the overs started coming down I just decided to go after the ball.”
Meanwhile, Brits congratulated Dottin and said that her side was ready to move past their rough start to the tournament.
“Obviously we wanted to start off well today. It was crucial to set the tone for a World Cup, but Deandra took the game away from us…. There’s no point in us hammering on this game. We’ve got Australia up next and I think what was good to see was that the girls really were willing to fight to get to 175. That’s what we can take out of this game,” she said.
