Women’s World Twenty20: West Indies 133-7 England 124-9 - Sloppy fielding costs England dear as they slip up in World Cup opener

Jodie Dibble is bowled by Shakera Selman during England’s defeat to West Indies yesterday (Gettyu Images)

England got their Women’s World Twenty20 campaign off to a disappointing start as they lost by nine runs to the West Indies in Sylhet on Monday.

Charlotte Edwards’ side restricted the Windies to 133 for 7 and looked well on course for victory as the captain top-scored with 44 in reply. But impressive figures of 4 for 12 from Deandra Dottin inspired a collapse as England lost seven wickets for just 40 runs to finish on 124 for 9 and surrender the Group B opener.

Sarah Taylor, who put on 42 with Edwards for the first wicket, said: “You could say we were there for about 20 overs of the game. They started well, we started quite badly and then we did very well to pull it back.

“And then we started well with the bat but the game got away from us a bit. It’s something we’re going to look to address and then, hopefully, we can bounce back quickly.

“It was more the fielding side of things [that let us down]. I personally dropped catches, missed a stumping, and there was another couple of catches [missed], and a couple of misfields on the boundary. We’re going to have to learn from it.”

England won the toss and chose to bowl with left-arm spinners Jodie Dibble and Rebecca Grundy handed debuts as part of the attack.

West Indies got off to a slow start, but the big-hitting Stafanie Taylor opened her shoulders in the third over, launching Anya Shrubsole over the rope for a six. Both the newcomers had a bowl in the early stages as the Windies reached 59 without loss at the halfway stage but Dibble came in for some damage in the 11th over with Taylor and Kycia Knight both sending her into the stands.

Knight hit another maximum in the 13th over but she became the first wicket to fall next ball as Jenny Gunn claimed a catch off Shrubsole to dismiss the opener for 43.

Dottin (nine) was next to go, with Shrubsole claiming the catch off Natalie Sciver, and that prompted a collapse during which the West Indies lost five wickets for just 21 runs.

England got their reply off to a flying start with Edwards, who was the top runscorer in the 2012 edition of the World Twenty20 with 172, hitting four fours off the first over.

Sarah Taylor claimed two boundaries of her own but she was run out for 17 off 15 balls to leave England on 42 for 1. Lydia Greenway (14) was next to go when she was bowled by Shanel Daley while attempting a reverse sweep and England reached the halfway stage requiring 63 more runs.

Sciver could add only seven before being bowled by Dottin and the all-rounder had a second victim when Tammy Beaumont went for two, eight balls later. England’s hopes now looked to rest on Edwards but when she edged Dottin behind, they were 94 for 5 and needed 40 off 24 balls. They never came close.

PA