Sarah Glenn turns tide to set up emphatic England win over West Indies

On a Baltic evening at Derby, West Indies unsuccessfully attempted to inject some fire into their Twenty20 series against England, reducing their opponents to 96 for six before a lower-order fightback from Sarah Glenn (26 off 19 balls) and Katherine Brunt (18 off 14) took the hosts to a total of 151 for 8 – 47 runs too many for the visitors.

Their wicketkeeper, Shemaine Campbelle, was instrumental in pegging England back initially with two stumpings and assisting in a run-out but was left ruing her one error behind the stumps after she put Glenn down on 10, allowing the No 8 to show her mettle with the bat.

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Glenn then made a crucial intervention with the ball, trapping the in-form Deandra Dottin lbw in the 12th over of West Indies’ reply with a leg break that a desperate DRS review could find no fault. She followed it up in her next over with the equally critical wicket of the captain, Stafanie Taylor, stumped by Amy Jones.

“I really want to be seen as a genuine all-rounder – I’ve been working hard on my batting over the last few years,” Glenn said. “I started to get more confidence after playing against some top teams in the World Cup.

“The time off due to Covid helped me clear my head and come back with a fresh mindset, to try and be really positive and keep playing in an attacking way whatever the situation is.”

West Indies had for a time looked on course thanks to the 61-run partnership between Dottin (38 off 40) and Taylor (28 off 31): England were so desperate to dislodge the pairing that they burned through their two reviews in the space of three overs – Dottin struck outside the line against Nat Sciver, while Taylor was saved by height against Sophie Ecclestone.

But once the pair were dislodged it was an all too familiar story, West Indies falling way behind the rate.

Earlier, with England unchanged from Monday’s win, Tammy Beaumont had looked to follow up her half-century in style by helping herself to easy pickings against Hayley Matthews – the off-spinner’s over in the powerplay punished for 12 runs.

But Shakera Selman’s introduction to the attack in the fourth over put a halt to the onslaught – Beaumont dancing down the wicket only to send up a catch to Chinelle Henry at mid on.

From there, England were reduced to 96 for 6 across the first 15 overs, with Jones (25) and Heather Knight (17) both faltering after good starts. Afy Fletcher had put Knight down at short third man on nought, but eventually got her revenge as the England captain was caught in the deep trying to slog-sweep the leg-spinner.

Fortunately for England, Brunt and Glenn appeared not to feel the September cold, sharing a 46-run partnership for the seventh wicket. Brunt’s contribution may have been more biff than finesse, but she proved an effective foil for Glenn, who showed why her batting in the intra-squad warm-ups impressed coach Lisa Keightley with some beautifully crisp cutting for four.

“We lost wickets through the middle, but us coming in and being really positive is how we want to play,” Glenn added. “I’ve been wanting to work my way up the order so it felt quite a special moment to get some runs today.”