Heather Knight’s unbeaten half-century steered England to a 17-run victory and a 3-0 sweep of the T20I series against West Indies.

Knight arrived at the crease with England 21 for 2 batting first for the first time in the series after being sent in by West Indies captain Hayley Matthews.

She batted with superb placement and timing to reach an unbeaten 66 off 47 balls with seven fours and a six, but she pulled up with a tight right hamstring late in her innings was replaced in the field by substitute Tammy Beaumont.

Nat Sciver-Brunt, Knight’s successor as captain, was England’s next best with 37 in the first test of their batting all series, having chased down 147 and 82 in the first two games for the loss of just two wickets and one respectively.

Matthews led the way for her side with the ball and latterly the bat, just as she had done in the first match, scoring a century in a losing cause at Canterbury. Her three wickets for 32 in four overs helps contain England while Jabazra Claxton, on debut, was also excellent with 1 for 15 from her four overs.

Matthews’ 71 off 54 balls kept her side in pursuit of 145 in a match briefly interrupted by rain but, as has been a theme of the tour, no one from her side could match her.

Danni Wyatt-Hodge was bowled off the first ball of the innings for the second match in a row and third consecutive time by Zaida James. It took her tally for the series to just 17 at 8.50 and compounds a disappointing start to the international season after being dropped for the ODI leg of West Indies’ visit which follows from Friday in Derby.

In contrast, Sophia Dunkley had entered the match with an unbeaten scores of 81 and 24 to her name, but Matthews made it two-down for England when Dunkley’s attempted cut resulted in an edge behind and the hosts ended the powerplay on 24 for 2, their lowest for the series by a long shot.

Sciver-Brunt and Knight settled into a rhythm, Knight’s superb reverse-sweep off Matthews racing away for four followed by two more boundaries from Sciver-Brunt, who advanced down the pitch to despatch Afy Fletcher over mid-off and three balls later timed one perfectly through the leg side.

Sciver-Brunt survived on 36 when she skied a Matthews delivery over the covers but a back-pedalling Fletcher couldn’t hold on. Knight slog-swept the next ball for six and, when Sciver-Brunt holed out two balls later, it fell to her predecessor to marshal the innings.

She did so beautifully as Amy Jones, required to bat for the first time all series at No.5, chimed in with four fours on her way to a 17-ball 22 although she couldn’t convert her start, flummoxed by the flight of a Matthews delivery which clattered into her stumps.

Alice Capsey fell cheaply in her only chance of West Indies’ visit, having been overlooked for the ODIs, giving Claxton her maiden international wicket when she chipped straight to Realeanna Grimmond at deep extra cover.

Knight brought up her eighth T20I fifty with a reverse-paddle for four off Ashmini Munisar and a wristy shot over short third off Aaliyah Alleyne also flew to the boundary. At that point Knight was in obvious pain, down on her haunches taking deep breaths between facing and clearly hobbling between the wickets. But she punched through it to face the final ball of the innings, going inside-out over the covers to find the boundary once more.

Like Wyatt-Hodge, Qiana Joseph fell early to the same bowler for the third consecutive time when she was bowled first ball by a Lauren Bell inswinger.

A four and a six in two balls off Charlie Dean suggested Matthews was in similar mood to last Wednesday when her unbeaten 100 off 67 balls came in a losing cause. Amid the constant threat of rain, she kept her side in touch while Dean saw three chances go begging off her bowling in the 11th over.

In echoes of the infamous T20 World Cup meeting between these sides, Sciver-Brunt put down a straightforward chance off Grimmond – on 12 at the time – at midwicket, Dean couldn’t hold a return catch and Jones failed to gather a faint outside edge behind the stumps.

West Indies and England fans alike gasped when Matthews flicked an Em Arlott delivery off her pads towards deep mid-wicket, where Wyatt-Hodge did well to parry the ball back inside the rope to save a boundary, but Matthews ran two to raise her half-century.

Matthews followed that immediately with a one-bounce four over mid-on and she struck back-to-back boundaries off Sarah Glenn so that she was on 66 by the time the rain finally set in to force the players from the field for about 25 minutes.

Linsey Smith claimed two wickets in as many deliveries during the first complete over after the resumption: Shabika Gajnabi bowled for a run-a-ball 14 and Claxton held at midwicket by Sciver-Brunt. Alleyne survived the hat-trick ball but the momentum had swun firmly in England’s favour with West Indies needing 32 runs off the last three overs. When Matthews launched the next ball down Arlott’s throat at long-on to give Bell her second wicket, it was all over, Bell closing with an economical 2 for 11 from four overs.

Brief scores:
England Women 144 for 5 in 20 overs (Heather Knight 66*, Nat Sciver-Brunt 37, Amy Jones 22; Zaida James 1-04, Jahzara Claxton 1-15, Hayley Matthews 3-32) beat West Indies Women  127 for 8 in 20 overs  (Hayley Matthews 71, Realeanna Grimmond 15, Shabika Gajnabi 14; Lauren Bell 2-11, Em Arlott 2-26, Charlie Dean 2-36, Linsey Smith 2-25) by 17 runs

[Cricinfo]