New Zealand beat West Indies in women's T20

Rachel Priest (File Photo)

Kingstown (St. Vincent), Sep 24 (IANS/CMC) A fiery spell from new ball bowler Morna Neilsen rocked the West Indies women top order and sent them tumbling to a seven-wicket loss against New Zealand women in the first Twenty20 International at Arnos Vale Sports Complex here.

Chasing 93 for victory, New Zealand women strolled to their target in 17.5 overs on Tuesday to take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series, reports CMC.

Sent in, the West Indies plummeted to five for three and were crumbling despite a Stafanie Taylor sponsored fight back with a top score of 43 which sought to rekindle the innings but Neilson's early wickets had already done irreparable damage. New Zealand lost an early wicket in the chase but powered by an unbeaten 44 from opener Rachel Priest, recovered well to lead the visitors to a comfortable victory with 13 balls to spare.

Neilsen grabbed three wickets for 11 runs - opener Taylor, Kycia Knight and the aggressive Deandra Dottin - to help restrict the homeside to 92 for six off their 20 overs after New Zealand had won the toss and elected to field.

New Zealand's innings suffered an early setback when Shanel Daley uprooted Captain Suzie Bates' stumps for a duck with no runs on the board. However, Rachel took charge of the innings with a confident 44 not out to lead her side to victory and a one nil lead in the three-match T20 series. 

Rachel was assisted by Sophie Devine who got to 24 before losing her stumps to Anisa Mohammed who picked up one wicket, same as Daley and Shaquana Quintyne.

The victory was New Zealand's first against the West Indies on their current tour after losing the One Day International series 4-0. The West Indies and New Zealand women meet in the second T20 International at Arnos Vale on Thursday.