Women’s T20 World Cup | Devine turns it on for New Zealand

Taylor excels in West Indies’ victory

Hitting away: Sophie Devine played as she is wont to while guiding New Zealand to an easy win over Sri Lanka.

Sophie Devine led from the front, smashing an unbeaten 75 for her sixth straight T20 half-century, to guide New Zealand to a seven-wicket victory over another Sri Lanka in a Group A match of the ICC Women’s World Twenty20 World Cup on Saturday.

In Group B, West Indies captain Stafanie Taylor, with an allround display, helped her side to a similar win over debutant Thailand.

In the second match, openers Chamari Athapaththu (41) and Hasini Madushika played unorthodox shots to give Sri Lanka a brisk start with a stand of 60 before Hayley Jensen’s spell of three of 16 slowed down the momentum. Devine hit six fours and two sixes in her 55-ball knock to help the Kiwis get through.

The scores: Group A: Sri Lanka 127/7 in 20 overs (Hasini Perera 20, Chamari Atapattu 41, Hayley 3/16) lost to New Zealand 131/3 in 17.4 overs (Sophie Devine 75 n.o.). Group B: Thailand 78/9 in 20 overs (Nannapat Koncharoenkai 33, Stafanie Taylor 3/13) lost to West Indies 80/3 in 16.4 overs (Stafanie Taylor 26 n.o., Shemaine Campbelle 25 n.o.) .