West Indies beat Pakistan in second ODI, clinch series

Hayley Matthews claimed 2-26 as West Indies beat Pakistan in a low-scoring thriller in the second ODI on Thursday to clinch the three-match series at the Karachi National Stadium.

Batting first, West Indies openers Deandra Dottin and Rashada Williams put on a 31-run stand before medium pacer Fatima Sana struck twice in the 12th over by removing Williams and Kyshona Knight. Captain Stefanie Taylor (23), Matthews (26) and Shemaine Campbell (23) contributed with useful runs in the middle order as the visitors reached 143/6 in 40.1 overs. Pakistan spinners Omaima Sohail (2-25) and Anam Amin (2-21) triggered a collapse as Windies lost the final four wickets within 10 runs.

In reply, Pakistan saw both of their openers back in the pavilion for 39 runs by the 18th over and kept losing wickets regularly. After dismissing opener Sidra Ameen, off-spinner Matthews triggered a middle order collapse by removing Iram Javed, Fatima Sana and Diana Baig as the hosts went from 111/6 to 116 all out in the 40th over. Sohail was the top scorer with 27 runs while captain Javeria Khan added 24 to the chase.

"Coming here, our expectations were pretty high... we wanted to not only win the series but to have a clean sweep so hopefully we get that in game three. A lot of the time when I talk about my performances I speak about wanting to be consistent. We've come down here really hungry and we know we have World Cup Qualifiers coming and I know I'm going to play a big role in that," Matthews said after the match.

Both teams will face off in the third and final ODI at the Karachi National Stadium on Sunday.