BATTING was again the West Indies Women’s downfall as they slumped to a 47-run defeat to England in yesterday’s Twenty20 International at Incora County Ground in Derby.

England Women hold a two-nil lead in the five-match series after winning the opener by the same margin on Monday.

Batting first yesterday, hosts England were restricted to 151-8 with none of their batters reaching 30.

Just past halfway into their run chase, the Windies harboured strong hopes of levelling the series, but from a promising position of 72-1, they could only muster 104-8.

Agonisingly for West Indies, only Deandra Dottin (38) and Stafanie Taylor (28) reached double figures. On Monday it was a similar case — Dottin’s 69 the only score past 10.

“The batters didn’t come to the party…batters have to get their act together. We have our meetings and discuss where we want to be between the seventh and 15th over, scoring singles and boundaries — we were lacking there,” Stafanie Taylor, the West Indies captain, said during a post-match interview.

“I thought the bowling up front got us off to a decent start. In the middle, somehow they came back. We were on target to restrict them under 140 [runs] — which would have been a good score,” Taylor continued.

England’s Sarah Glenn, who won the player of the match award after pivotal contributions with bat and ball, argued that the match was tougher than the victory margin suggests.

“It was a really good, a good test. West Indies did well and put us under the pump, but we came back despite a few wickets and controlled it well at the end,” she explained.

Yesterday, sixth-ranked West Indies Women won the toss and chose to send world number two-rated England to take first strike in the late evening encounter.

Unlike in the opening match of the series when England got off to a bullet start, the Caribbean side was able to apply the squeeze by taking key wickets up top.

The home team slumped to 45-3 inside the first seven overs.

The diminutive Tammy Beaumont, who was the player of the match on Monday thanks to her impressive 62, was among the early victims. She began in authoritative fashion but was sent back for only 21.

The West Indies bowlers kept up the pressure through to the middle overs, and by the 15th over, England were 96-6.

But late innings impetus provided by Glenn (26) and Catherine Blunt (18) lifted the home side past the 150 mark.

Off spinner Taylor claimed 2-12, while pacer Shakera Selman also had two wickets.

In response, West Indies lost opener Hayley Matthews (three) early, but a 61-run stand for the second wicket between the experienced pair of Dottin and Taylor kept the visitors in the hunt.

However, when both — along with Lee-Ann Kirby (one) — were dismissed in rapid succession, it was effectively curtain for West Indies who, at the fall of Taylor’s wicket, were 79-4 at the end of the 14th over.

Spinners Mady Villiers, Sophie Ecclestone and Glenn grabbed two wickets each.

The third match of the series is scheduled for Saturday, before the fourth and fifth contests on September 28 and 30, respectively.

SCOREBOARDEngland Women

T Beaumont c Henry b

Selman 21

D Wyatt run out 14

N Sciver st Campbelle b

Taylor 8

*H Knight c Cooper b Fletcher

17

+A Jones c Kirby b

Matthews 25

F Wilson st Campbelle b

Taylor 4

K Brunt b Selman 18

S Glenn run out 26

S Ecclestone not out 9

Extras (b4, w4, nb1) 9

Total (7 wkts, 20 overs) 151

Did not bat: M Villiers, A

Shrubsole

Fall of wickets: 1-34, 2-44,

3-45, 4-85, 5-94, 6-96,

7-142, 8-151

Bowling: Connell 3-0-037-0

(w1, nb1), Matthews 2-0-

22-1 (w1), Selman 4-0-32-2,

Taylor 4-0-12-2 (w2), Fletcher

4-0-25-1, Henry 3-0-19-0

West Indies Women

H Matthews c Knight b Brunt

3

D Dottin lbw b Glenn 38

*S Taylor st Jones b Glenn 28

L Kirby st Jones b Villiers 1

+S Campbelle c Wilson b

Shrubsole 5

C Henry lbw b Villiers 7

B Cooper b Ecclestone 0

A Alleyne lbw b Ecclestone 5

S Selman not out 6

A Fletcher not out 4

Extras (lb5, w2) 7

Total (8 wkts, 20 overs) 104

Did not bat: S Connell

Fall of wickets: 1-11, 2-72,

3-75, 4-79, 5-86, 6-89, 7-91,

8-96

Bowling: Brunt 3-0-8-1,

Shrubsole 4-0-22-1 (w1),

Sciver 2-0-16-0, Ecclestone

4-0-19-2 (w1), Glenn 4-0-24-

2, Villiers 3-0-10-2

Result: England Women won

by 47 runs

Series: England Women lead

five-match series 2-0

Player-of-the-Match: Sarah

Glenn

Toss: West Indies Women

Umpires: G Lloyd, D Millns;