West Indies Under-19 Women must beat hosts Malaysia on Wednesday in order to qualify for the Super Six stage of the 2025 ICC Under-19 Women’s T20 World Cup.
The regional side suffered massive defeats in their first two matches against defending champions India and Sri Lanka, losing by nine wickets and 81 runs, respectively, without scoring 100 runs in either match.
Victory against Malaysia, who also lost both their matches convincingly, would qualify West Indies for the next round as the third best team in their group. From there, each team will play two matches at the Super Six stage against the teams from the opposing group whose finishing positions were different from its own. The top two from each pool will then advance to the semi-finals.
In their opening game, West Indies had no answers for the bowling pedigree shown by the Indians and were skittled out for just 44 runs. India’s bowlers cashed in on their decision to put West Indies in at the Bayuemas Oval in Kuala Lumpur, troubling the Caribbean side with swing and spin.
Fast bowler VJ Joshitha handed them a double-blow early on when she trapped Samara Ramnath in front, and on the next ball, had Naijanni Cumberbatch out at slip to a superb diving catch from Sanika Chalke. When left-arm spinners Aayushi Shukla and Parunika Sisodia struck in consecutive overs to remove Jahzara Claxton and Brianna Harricharan, respectively for ducks, West Indies were 17 for 4 after 5.1 overs.
Three run-outs in as many overs added to their woes, and 39 for 7 soon became 44 all out as Shukla and Sisodia wrapped things up. Sisodia finished with 3 for 7 while Joshitha and Shukla picked up two each.
In reply, Gongadi Trisha (4) was the only wicket to fall for India as they cruised home in the modest chase with G Kamalini and Sanika Chalke finishing things off in 4.2 overs.
On matchday two, Sri Lanka capitalised on missed opportunities in the field to reach to 79-1 at the mid-point of their batting innings, having won the toss and opting to set the score.
Openers Sanjana Kavindi (38 off 36 balls) and Sumudu Nisansala (19 off 22) put on 54 runs in under seven overs for the first wicket, highlighted by Sumudu’s huge six over midwicket. The clean hitting continued after the ten-over mark, led by the valuable contributions of captain Manudi Nanayakkara (37 off 31) and Dahami Sanethma (31 off 25).
For West Indies, tricky left-armer Selena Ross was the pick of the bowlers, finishing with 25-2 from her four overs, while Jahzara Claxton’s dismissal of Hiruni Kumari was also a highlight for the teenage girls from the Caribbean.
Chasing 167 runs always seemed beyond West Indies and the result was a formality once left arm spinner Chamodi Praboda’s powerplay spell brought about the dismissal of Asabi Callender (4), Naijanni Cumberbatch (3) and Jahzara Claxton (15).
Captain Ramnath top scored with 24 runs as only three only batters made it to double digits. Aseni Thalagune took 2-16 in the innings and West Indies fell well behind the run rate and were eventually bowled out for 90 runs.
If they qualify, they will be joined by Australia, Scotland, Bangladesh, England, United States, South Africa, Nigeria and New Zealand.