ENGLAND LORD OVER WINDIES IN A BATTLE OF GROUP TOPPERS

ICC 10th WOMEN's WORLD CUP - Match 22 – England v West Indies at Lords on 24 June 2026

Result – England beat West Indies by 38 runs
Points – England 2(8), West Indies 0(6)
Toss – West Indies
Umpires – N Janani, Eloise Sheridan, Nimali Perera (TV)
Player of the Match – Danni Wyatt Hodge

Match Centre Link - You can view the scorecard, watch highlights and engage more at Match Centre of ICC. The match can be accessed here. 

Within 11 days, the 22nd match of 10th ICC World Cup had arrived and this time at the home of cricket, The Lords. England and West Indies having won all their three matches so far and both with one firm leg in the knock outs were to face each other. The outcome of the match would most likely decide the group topper. Charlie Dean remained the skipper in Nat's absence. Windies won the toss and invited ENG to bat. 

ENGLAND INNINGS

ENGLAND's POWER
Amy Jones and Danni Wyatt Hodge opened the batting for ENG while Chinelle Henry got the opening honours for WI. Chinelle began with a dot but went for fours in the next two balls. Amy pulled them both towards the leg side - the second more sound and convincing, in comparison. A dot ball later, Chinelle induced an edge from  Amy which was pouched by Afy Fletcher at short third. Sophia played out a dot ball to complete the over. Hayley bowled the 2nd over and Sophia continued her form from the last match. She slammed Hayley for a couple of boundaries in the leg side. Danni began her boundary account when she began the 3rd over (bowled by Chinelle) with a pull for a boundary. Chinelle bowled three wides, gave another boundary, was saved a near boundary and the long over brought 17 runs to ENG. Ashmini replaced Hayley in the other hand. Sophia missed a reverse sweep in the first ball and got it right in the next ball for a boundary. Sophia tried to sweep the third ball but missed the connection and the umpire immediately raised her finger on appeal. Sophia didnt bother to review and walked away. Alice Capsey joined Danni at the crease. Aaliyah Alleyne, the most successful bowler for WI in the WC, came in as second change. Despite her 5th ball heaved by Alice for a boundary, she conceded just six runs. Ashwini continued and Danni picked her for a couple of boundaries which resulted in fours despite Danni not in full control of the shots. Nonetheless ENG finished the powerplay at 57/2 and seized the initial advantage.

GOING STEADY
Aaliyah bowled another good over sans extras and boundaries which gave only four runs. Hayley replaced Ashmini and began with a boundary. Hayley recovered to give only four more in the rest of the over. Afy bowling the 9th over began with a boundary too as Alice pulled a short ball. The Windies were bowling way too many short balls. Afy's 9th over went for 10 runs in total. Karishma was the 6th WI bowler of the innings and she did a fairly good job conceding just 7 in the 10th over. At the half way mark, ENG were 86/2 with a well set Danni and Alice. Afy bowled the 11th over which was also a 7 run over. Danni opened the 12th over (bowled by Karishma) with a loft over extra cover for boundary. She took a single the next ball which brought her 32 ball half century. Alice reverse swept the third ball for another boundary. Alice went for a big one in the 5th ball but it stayed in the long on region and Chinelle judged the catch well. Heather coming in last ball casually swept it fine for a four. Karishma's over that got Alice's wicket also gave away 16 runs. Aaliyah bowled another 7 run over in the 13th which had another cool Heather sweep for a boundary. Ashmini replaced Karishma. Danni began with a brilliant sweep for a boundary was lucky to survive a run out and a misjudged catch at deep that raced to the boundary. Ashmini's 12 run over was not that bad but ENG were fortunate. The fortune continued for ENG in Afy's next over with Heather being the recepient. Afy's first ball was thick edge that beat the keeper and the last ball was a simple catch dropped by Hayley. Hayley brought herself in the 16th over and after conceding a boundary to Heather in the 3rd ball got Danni run out in the 5th ball. Heather pushed for a quick single and Danni responded but Jannillea responded faster to Shemaine and Danni was caught short in the striker's end. ENG were 145/4 after power play. They were going steady and WI needed wickets to stop ENG from going big in the final four overs.

A VERY CHALLENGING  TOTAL
Afy gave just 9 runs in the 17th over which included a super cool reverse sweep by Heather. Hayley got another wicket in the 18th over when the dangerous Freya swept one right into her stumps. That didnt deter Heather from playing one more reverse sweep in Hayley's over. However at a wicket and 8 runs, it was gold for WI. Aaliyah bowled the 19th and Heather was lucky 1st ball as her thick edge went running to the boundary. Heather showed her class in the 3rd ball which was lofted over extra cover with such precision. Fortune smiled at WI in the last ball of the over. Heather missed a pull shot and the ball fell near the stumps. Before Heather could come back to the crease, Shemaine jumped to collect the ball and hit the stumps in a flash. Heather & Danni both had to be run out after playing two good innings. Young Ashmini was handed the responsibility of closing the innings. I thought she was lucky when Dangerous Dani got off strike with a leg bye. But Charlie struck her for back to back boundaries in the 2nd & 3rd balls. She handed over strike to Dani who tried to go over cover and ended up handing a simple catch to Aaliyah. Sophie Ecclestone came to finish the last ball and swept it for a boundary. ENG finished at 186/7. The total was indeed a good one which would be very challenging for the Windies. The total isnt beyond West Indies but they needed to punch above their weight to get it going. 

WEST INDIES INNINGS

LATE TO THE PARTY
Windies continued with Hayley and Deandra as openers. Lauren opened the ENG bowling and began with a brilliant outswinger. She restricted WI to 3 runs in the first over. Linsey came in from the other end and did extremely well and gave away just 4 runs in the second over. Bell continued and in spite of bowling 2 wides gave just 5 runs in the third over. WI finally found a boundary when Hayley pulled Linsey's 1st ball of the 4th over beyond the mid wicket. She swept the third ball fine for another boundary. Just when WI started getting a bit of momentum, things went Hay(ley)wire. Hayley missed the 4th ball which saw a loud appeal from Amy. Even other ENG fielders didnt seem interested. The umpire declined and Amy forced Charlie to go for the DRS. The DRS detected a spike even as the gap was visible. Nimali on TV trusted the snickometer than her eyes and declared Hayley out. Hayley was furious and made her displeasure clear with the umpire before she was instructed by her dug out to come back to the pavilion.  A ball after the drama, Deandra nicked one and it hit the gloves of Amy and ran past the keeper. Lauren began the 5th over with three dots. Shemaine lost patience and swung the fourth one for a flat six.  Lauren kept her at bay in the next two balls with two more dots. Charlie came in to close the power play and at 30/1 after 5, WI didnt look convincing. Deandra decided it was enough and charged against Charlie. She clobbered the first two balls over extra cover for successive boundaries. She added to the success by powering one over long on for a sixer. However Charlie had the last laugh in the last ball. She slowed down the last ball and Deandra once again tried to clear long on. The ball lacked the power and speed of the previous one and Alice judged it well taking it on her back just centimetres away from the boundary. WI were 46/2 after power play. They had a real slow start and just when the World Boss was beginning to boss around, WI sent her back. WI were late to the party. But better late than never. Shemaine, Stafanie and Chinnelle need to up the ante. 

SLOWING DOWN BEYOND HOPE
Sophie Ecclestone was entrusted the 7th over and expectedly slow things down conceding just 4 runs in the over. Dani Gibson brought in pace from the other end and Shemaine used them to advantage to find square boundaries on both sides of the wicket. Sophie continued and as she does often brought a game changing wicket. She tossed one to Shemaine and as Shemaine missed the sweep, Sophie hit the stumps. Linsey bowled from other end making it left arm spin from both ends. She conceded just 4 runs in the 10th over. WI had relatively inexperienced Jahzara and Jannillea in the middle. The wisdom of WI in holding back Chinelle and Stafanie was already in question as WI were 69/3 after 10 overs needing 118 more in the next 10. Charlie brought herself in and struck first ball when she had Jannilea chop one back to her stumps. Chinelle walked in to the hatrick ball and cut it past point for a single. Charlie had Jahzara stranded at the crease for the next four balls. Freya and pace were called on for the 12th over. Freya conceded a much needed boundary but had both Chinelle and Jahzara guessing in her 8 run over. The Charlie - Jahzara showdown continued. Charlie appealed first ball when Jahzara missed her sweep. Though it seemed obvious that it was pitching outside, she took the review which confimed the obvious. DRS came back in the 4th ball which was bowled high and missed by both the batter & keeper. Jahzara wanted a DRS this time for waist height and DRS ruled it to be a no ball. In spite of the 4th ball that went for 6 runs, Charlie only conceded 7 in the over. Dani Gibson replaced Freya and she also held Jahzara hostage with three dot balls. Jahzara was lucky in the last two balls where both her shots fell just short of fielders. Trust Sophie to sneak another quick over that could fetch only 5 runs for WI. Chinelle lofted the 2nd ball of the next over bowled by Freya for a boundary that also brought the WI their hundred. At the end of 16 overs, WI were in dire straits at 103/4. From 46/2 in 6 to 103/4 in 16, ENG bowlers effected a terrific slowdown in proceedings. WI started with a required rate of 9 per over. It went up to 13 per over after power play and before the final four the needed 21 per over. All hopes of a WI win had dried away. 

ENGLAND LORD THEIR WAY
Sophie bowled the 17th and gave only 5 of her first 4 balls. Chinelle swat the 5th ball over deep cover for a boundary. She was lucky that her pull of the next ball met a diving Dani Gibson who spilled the ball and it raced for a boundary. WI still needed 71 from 18 which needed more than a miracle. Charlie bowled the 18th and Jahzara got an outside edge in the 1st ball that raced to the boundary. In the 5th ball, Jahzara played her most convincing shot, a loft over the covers for a boundary. WI needed 61 from the final 2 overs and Lauren at her miserly best conceded 6 of the first 4 balls. She finally ended Jahzara's misery in the 5th ball when Jahzara lofted her wide delivery only to be caught by Linsey at point. Linsey was brought in for the last over and despite Chinelle cracking 2 sixers of the over, WI finished at 148/5 falling short by 38 runs. The WI batting at the middle left a lot to be desired. The questions on the batting order and not retiring out Jahzara was answered by Hayley when it was revealed that Stafanie was out of the match owing to respiratory illness. WI need to work on their batting order and the absence of Qiana and Stafanie would prove dear to them. England even without Nat have had it easy in all their games and have qualified for the semi finals. At the home of cricket, ENG felt at home and also got home for the knock outs. 

(Images Courtesy - ICC/Cricinfo)