Women's World Cup: Defending champions England stunned by West Indies, slip to 2nd successive loss

Women's World Cup 2022: West Indies women won a thriller by 7 runs, defending 225 successfully against England in Dunedin. Defending champions England are in a spot of bother with 2 successive defeats.

West Indies registered their first-ever victory at the Women's World Cup over England as the defending champions lost a thriller by 7 runs at the University Oval in Dunedin on Wednesday.

West Indies rode on an all-round show from Hayley Matthews to defend a 225-run total for their second successive victory at the premier tournament. England women are in a spot of bother as they have lost 2 matches on the trot at the Women's World Cup 2022.

Batting first, the West Indies women, despite an impressive opening stand of 81 between veterans Deandra Dottin (31 off 64 balls) and Hayley Matthews (45 off 58 balls), managed a mediocre 225 for 6 in 50 overs after opting to bat in their second league match.

In reply, England nearly pulled through, courtesy of a 61-run stand between Sophie Ecclestone (33 no) and Kate Cross (27) for the ninth wicket before being all-out for 218 in 47.4 overs.

West Indies have now won both their games and are placed second on points table while England, with back-to-back defeats, including the opening round game against Australia, are placed sixth among eight teams.

It was a steady start by the Caribbean women as Dottin and Matthews safely negotiated the first 20 overs before a collapse saw them slump to 81 for three from 81 for no loss and subsequently 98 for 4 just after the halfway stage (26.1 overs).

However, keeper-batter Shemaine Campbell (66 off 80 balls) and Chedan Nation (49 off 74 balls) added 123 runs for the fifth wicket to get the team to a safe, if not great, total.