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DUBLIN – West Indies captain Stafanie Taylor led the visiting West Indies side to victory in the first T20 international of the Hanley Energy T20I Series in Dublin today.
After winning the toss, Taylor elected to bat first. Good tight early bowling from Celeste Raack (1-16) and Kim Garth (1-19) restricted the early batting, with Sophie MacMahon (1-20) in her debut T20I chiming in with a promising performance.

However, with the visitors on 53-2 in the 11th over, Taylor opened up and smashed 11 fours and one six on her way to 75 from 53 balls. The late hitting allowed the West Indies to finish on 139-4 from their 20 overs.

One concerning matter for the Irish was the condition of captain Laura Delany, who was struck hard on the ankle when fielding off her own bowling. She was taken to hospital for precautionary scans and was unable to return to complete the game.

In response, tight and quick bowling by the West Indian attack created early in-roads into the Irish side, with only vice-captain Kim Garth (46) – a personal best T20I score – got to grips with the attack.

Regular wickets fell around Garth, and the Irish side eventually succumbed for 75-9 from 18.4 overs – with Delany unable to bat.

That's @kim_garth's highest T20I score, passing her previous 38*. She is now 42*. Ireland 70-8 from 18 overs. #BackingGreen pic.twitter.com/1ohYx1NChg

— Ireland Women’s Cricket Team (@IrishWomensCric) May 26, 2019

Kim Garth said after the match:

“It was a bit of a disappointing day. We started really well with the ball, which was a big positive for us, but then we fell away a bit. We’ve trained a lot and practised on hitting an area, and keeping it simple – T20 is such a dynamic game and for us it about keeping it simple, but we failed to do that at times today and that is where the game got away from us.”

“Some very pleasing bowling performances – Sophie [MacMahon] has only played a game or two, and I thought she was brilliant with the ball, Raacky had more of an experienced head, but she was also brilliant, so there are positives to take but overall a very disappointing day.”

SCORECARD IN BRIEF

Ireland Women v West Indies Women, T20 International, 26 May 2019, Dublin

West Indies 139-4 (20 overs; S Taylor 75; C Raack 1-16, K Garth 1-19, S MacMahon 1-20)
Ireland 75-9 (18.4 overs; K Garth 46; A Fletcher 4-14)

West Indies won by 64 runs

A full scorecard can be found here.

Sophie MacMahon bowls to Shemaine Campbelle
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Connaught