Stafanie's dream is Lanka's nightmare

MUMBAI: Stafanie Taylor was playing the 'knock of a lifetime' when, like in the middle of most good dreams, her sleep was rudely disturbed, leaving her 'stranded' on 94. Without wasting a minute she told room-mate Shemaine Campbelle about the happening and they both sat up wondering about the missing six runs that would have got her a ton.
Only few hours later, the duo were together on a cricket pitch but this time, in a real game – a must-win World Cup tie against Sri Lanka.They spoke about the dream Stafanie had and she promised Campbelle she'd find those missing six runs at any cost. Unfortunately for Sri Lanka, Stafanie did take the dream very seriously, bludgeoning the opposition's bowling line-up on her way to a lethal 171 of only 137 balls as West Indies won their Group 'A' game by a mammoth 209 runs, at the MIG Grounds, in Mumbai, on Sunday.
Giving proof of how they swiftly put the big loss in the opener against India behind them, the West Indies smashed the Lankan attack, amassing 368-8 after being put in to bat. As if Stafanie's onslaught wasn't enough, Deandra Dottins notched the quickest fifty in the history of women's cricket with a whirlwind 50 from 20 balls that had 5 fours and four sixes for decoration.
"Shemaine asked me about the six missing runs in my dream and I told her I don't know where they are because I'm up! However, the episode was at the back of my head all the time in the middle and I'm glad I made it count," said Stafanie while admitting that fatigue won the battle in her bid to reach a double ton.
While the win against England on Friday was inspirational to say the least, the Lankan's were completely aware that an encore was next to impossible. If anything, the Shashikala Siriwardena-led team had to make sure they went down respectably so as to not suffer with a dismal net run rate which will surely come in to play when deciding the qualifiers for the Super Six stage. But the West Indian bowlers, led by Shaquana Quintyne (3-32), had other plans, reducing Sri Lanka to 89-6 in just a little more than 20 overs. The tail put up a futile resistance as the Lankan innings folded at 159 with ten overs to spare.
Asked if she'd try hard dreaming on the eve of Tuesday's important game against defending champions England, Stafanie said she would love to. "But this time, I'm going to make sure I dream of a 194," said the Chris Gayle fanatic with a laugh that England should be very scared of.
Brief scores: West Indies 368-8 (Taylor 171, Dottins 50, Aguilleira 47; Siriwardene 2-58) beat Sri Lanka 159 (Rasangika 28; Quintyne 3-32, Daley 2-35)