Decisive clash! - West Indies, England women seek ODI series clincher

It should be a battle-royal when the West Indies Women and England Women meet in the fifth and deciding game of their five-match one-day international ODI) series at Sabina Park today, beginning at 9 30 a.m.

The series, which has ebbed and flowed since it got underway two weeks ago, will see both teams entering the contest high on confidence after sharing the other fixtures 2-2.

The opener, which was played at the Trelawny Multi-Purpose Stadium, first saw the English narrowly squeezing home by five runs, with the second encounter, also played at the same venue, ending in 38-run victory for the regional side.

This trading of wins was to then continue at Sabina Park where England, after posting 220, went on to dismiss the West Indies for a lowly 108 and with it secured a 112- triumph.

Not to be outdone, however, the West Indies, on the back of a fine Player-of-the-Match performance from captain Stafanie Taylor, rallied to score a series-high 223 for six off their maximum 50 overs.

The English thereafter could only muster 181, thus giving the Caribbean women a 42-run win.

''Going into the series we always thought it would be a close one, as though we recently won the Twenty20 World Cup, we know of the depth and talent of England,'' noted Taylor.

''It was therefore good for us to batten down and play some disciplined and basic cricket and for the most part I think we have done that.

''It is just for us now to go in the final game and play our best game of the series and hopefully we will come out of top," Taylor noted.

Leading from the front, Taylor is the leading runs getter for the West Indies with two half-centuries, the last of which, a solid 85, came in the last game.

With this in mind, the world's number one all-rounder will again be looking to fire and will be hoping for support from the likes of opener Shaquana Quintyne, the hard-hitting Deandra Dottin, and former captain and wicketkeeper, Merissa Aguilleira.

Bowling-wise, Taylor was also effective in game four with figures of three for 22 bowling her off-spin and will not only look to repeat such a performance, but also hope that her frontline bowlers will pull their weight.

These include pacer Shamilia Connell, all-rounder Dottin and leg-spinner Afy Fletcher.

England, in the meantime, will look for most runs from in-form opener Lauren Winfield, who scored back-to-back fifties in the third and fourth matches, her partner Tammy Beaumont, who hit 57 in the last game and captain Heather Knight and Natalie Sciver, their two most fearsome batters.

As it relates to their bowling, the usually accurate left-arm spinner, Alex Hartley, opening seamer Katherine Brunt and pacer Jenny Gunn should shoulder responsibilities.

- CMC