The West Indies failed to build around Stefanie Taylor’s unbeaten 44 as Nonkululeko Mlaba ran riot with four scalps to restrict the islanders to a paltry 118/6/. In response, Laura Wolvdaart and Tazmin Brits got the Proteas off to a solid start, racking up 43 runs in the powerplay without the loss of a single delivery. However, things were even more dire for the Caribbean side than the scoreboard suggested, as their new-ball operator Zaida James had to be stranded on the sidelines after a horrific injury early in the innings.
Handed the shiny Kookaburra in the second over, the 19-year-old left-arm orthodox bowler went full to Wolvdaart first up who took the opportunity to drive the ball down the ground. James was in position to collect the ball without much ado as it came at chest height off the bounce but much to everyone’s horror, the white rock deflected the top of her cupped hands and rattled straight into the youngster’s cheekbone. James immediately went down on her knees before the umpire came up to check on her and the physio came sprinting in, while James sat on the pitch holding her face. Even as her teammates tried to calm her down, James was nearly in tears as she walked off the field distraught to let play resume.
Twitterati was quick to send their wishes for speedy recovery to the fledgling youngster.
Brutal
Pretty bad
19 year old Zaida James copped a return ball from Laura Wolvaardt straight to the jaw. It’s not looking very good. She’s holding her jaw and walking back with the physio and there seems to be some awelling on that left side. Qiana Joseph completes her over. #T20WorldCup… pic.twitter.com/GiOvqcbn3L
— Lavanya 🎙️🎥👩🏻💻 (@lav_narayanan) October 4, 2024
Zaida James terpaksa retired hurt karena dagunya terkena bola hasil pukulan Laura Wolvaardt.
Over-nya akan dilanjutkan oleh Qiana Joseph.— Kriket (dengan Bahasa) Indonesia (@kriketindonesia) October 4, 2024
Hope so
Hope Zaida James is fine….that looked horrible…her jaw looked swollen up with cut…
Off the field now with tears in her eyes #T20WorldCup— aman (@bilateral_bully) October 4, 2024
sad
zaida james 🙁
— zoha (@zchishtii) October 4, 2024
West Indies have picked a 11 today where everyone is a handy bowler
Used 8 bowlers so far without using Stafanie Taylor or Deandra Dottin, 2 of their best bowlers ever
Just don’t have enough runs on the board though#T20WorldCup #SAvWI— Mohit Shah (@mohit_shah17) October 4, 2024
Excellent
All the best
All the best to our indian women’s team for the t20 cricket world cup!!
— Mitul Gamit (@oyemitul) October 4, 2024
Match Day: First game of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup for India#T20WorldCup
Dubai is expected to be slightly on the slower side with the average first innings score being 157 in the last 3 years in T20Is.
A new look batting line-up makes India formidable while NZ is…— Pranav Nair (@leg_gully) October 4, 2024
Cheer for India
Today in the #Women T20 World Cup 2024, Team India’s opening match will be held with New Zealand at the Dubai International Stadium.
The match will start at 7:30pm Indian time.
Best wishes to the Indian women’s team in advance for the tournament.
#TeamIndia #INDvsNZ… pic.twitter.com/0YLpc1OiTx— VISHNU BHARDWAJ ( वसुधैव कुटुम्बकम) (@Vishnu_Sharma__) October 4, 2024
