Windies Women’s star Deandra Dottin lived up to her rank as one of the better T20 all-rounders in the world as her heroics in the T20I series against Pakistan helped the tourists snatch their first series win of 2019.
With a series ending 2-1, Windies will be gunning when the final One-Day International Series bowls off on February 7. One player in particular could surge to the top of the International Cricket Council (ICC) T20 rankings and possibly dethrone her skipper and current leader – Stafanie Taylor.
The Caribbean ladies winged out to Pakistan a few days ago as they sought to rebuild the once-popular cricket brand. The visitors immediately made their mark at Karachi a few days ago when they hammered a hapless-looking Pakistan team in the first T20I played at the Southend Club Ground.
Windies’ chances of winning the series were always in good hands, especially with the star-studded team they took to Asia. However, it was Dottin’s outrageous knock of 90 not out off half the number of balls which broke the back of the Pakistani ladies from the inception.
With a mixture of sixes and fours, Dottin hammered her side to a 78-run win before returning in the second match to play her role as the key utility player. The Bajan aced the start of the chase with a crisp knock of 22 with five fours, the most by any player in the team during the innings.
The fast-bowler earlier stunted the home team’s pursuit of a big total when she snagged the best bowling figures amongst her teammates with 2-26 from her four overs.
The combined strength of Dottin and company, namely Guyanese Shemaine Campbell who won Most Valuable Player (MVP) for leading the chase with a top-score of 41, helped Windies seize the series 2-0. The final match saw Pakistan outdo the visitors, but Dottin remained resolute in her gameplay.
Dottin ended the three matches with 176 runs and a similar average to match, from just the three innings played. The all-rounder also bagged three wickets in the series.
In terms of her international rank, Dottin comes in second at the top of the list with 321 points, 32 behind Taylor, who heads the lot with 353. One mega bonus for Dottin is the absence of Taylor, who opted out of the tour to Pakistan owing to the country’s history of security issues regarding cricket being staged there.
Taylor was not the first player to opt out of a trip to Pakistan and her absence, as well as that of Hayley Matthews, meant that Dottin was forced to step up and be the leader of the team in both departments.
