With Ire­land re­quir­ing eight runs from the fi­nal over and the last wick­et pair of Ar­lene Kel­ly and Cara Mur­ray at the crease, Matthews had the for­mer caught off the sec­ond ball to spark wild cel­e­bra­tions among her team­mates and keep West In­dies Women’s chances of qual­i­fy­ing for the World Cup alive on Fri­day.

In a match that was re­duced to 33 overs af­ter heavy show­ers de­layed the start of play, the West In­dies post­ed a to­tal of 181 for six af­ter be­ing sent in to bat by their op­po­nents.

The Windies Women found them­selves in a spot of both­er when they lost Matthews for 23 and open­er Qiana Joseph for four to leave them 29 for two in the sixth over.

How­ev­er, Zai­da James and Stafanie Tay­lor put on 81 runs for the third wick­et to re­pair the in­nings and guide their team to 116 for three.

Ire­land’s pac­er Jane Maguire then struck twice in the 24th over to swing the mo­men­tum back in their favour.

She first had Tay­lor caught for a well-played 46 from 56 balls, and one run lat­er she bowled James for 36, as West In­dies slipped to 117 for four.

Chinelle Hen­ry en­sured there would be no mid­dle or­der col­lapse though, scor­ing an un­beat­en 46 from 36 balls with two fours and one six to pro­pel the Windies to their even­tu­al to­tal.

Maguire was Ire­land’s best bowler with 3-35 from her sev­en overs.

Ire­land then got off to a blaz­ing start in their run chase, with open­ers Amy Hunter and cap­tain Ga­by Lewis shar­ing an open­ing stand of 57 runs in 10 overs.

Matthews broke the part­ner­ship with her off spin by bowl­ing Lewis for 17 and then held on to a re­turn catch to dis­miss Or­la Pren­der­gast for just one, as Ire­land stum­bled to 65 for two.

Afy Fletch­er joined in the ac­tion by bowl­ing Hunter for the top­score of 48 and when fel­low spin­ner Kar­ish­ma Ramharack sent Leah Paul back to the pavil­ion for one, Ire­land was in dire trou­ble at 80 for four in the 17th over.

Lau­ra De­lany and Christi­na Coul­ter-Reil­ly kept them in the hunt with a 42-run part­ner­ship for the fifth wick­et.

Aaliyah Al­leyne broke the stand by dis­miss­ing De­lany for one, be­fore Ramharack ac­count­ed for Louise Lit­tle to leave the score 133 for six.

The match seemed all but over when Coul­ter-Reil­ly, Ava Can­ning and Jane Maguire were dis­missed in quick suc­ces­sion as Ire­land slumped to 156 for nine, with still 26 runs re­quired from 24 balls.

But Ar­lene Kel­ly and Cara Mur­ray car­ried Ire­land with­in a whisker of a his­toric vic­to­ry, be­fore Matthews’ hero­ics proved to be the de­cider.

Matthews fin­ished with 4-24, while Ramharack (2-27) and Al­leyne (2-33) grabbed two wick­ets. (CMC)

Sum­mariesd Scores

WEST IN­DIES WOMEN 181-6 in 33 overs (Chinelle Hen­ry 46 not out, Stafanie Tay­lor 46, Zai­da James 36, Hay­ley Matthews 23; Jane Maguire 3-35) vs IRE­LAND WOMEN 175 in 32.2 overs (Amy Hunter 48, Lau­ra De­lany 32, Christi­na Coul­ter-Reil­ly 26, Ar­lene Kel­ly 18, Ga­by Lewis 17; Hay­ley Matthews 4-24, Kar­ish­ma Ramharack 2-27, Aaliyah Al­leyne 2-33).