Australia 190 for 9 (McGrath 65, Connell 3-25) beat West Indies (Matthews 79, Brown 3-20) by 47 runs
But after conceding consecutive boundaries from the first two balls of the 11th over, Brown responded with a clever back-of-the-hand slower ball to deceive Matthews. She skied it high to cover where Litchfield took the catch and let out a huge exhale, having dropped Matthews in the same spot in the last match to cost Australia the game.
Matthews became the first player in women’s T20I history to score more than 300 runs in a three-match series, scoring 310 for just two dismissals at a ridiculous strike-rate 174.15. She was named player of the match for the third straight game of the series and for her eighth consecutive match overall.
But it wasn’t enough for West Indies. Her dismissal sparked a calamitous collapse as they lost 5 for 7 in 12 balls. Georgia Wareham picked up Stafanie Taylor as she miscued to mid-on and Gajnabi ran herself out mindlessly to end a torturous 27-ball innings of 16. Brown then cranked up the gas, rattling Chinelle Henry’s stumps before Shemaine Campbelle chipped a catch to mid-on.
West Indies were bowled out for 143 in the 20th over with Aaliyah Alleyne the only other batter to make double figures outside of the two openers. Garth picked up two late wickets to finish with 2 for 24 from four overs having put West Indies behind the required rate early on. Ash Gardner claimed 3 for 32 after being put under severe pressure by Matthews.
McGrath struck the ball with extraordinary power in her 65. She thumped 11 fours and two sixes, skipping down the track to the spinners and backing away to the quicks. Perry provided good support with 40 off 30 after Australia had slumped to 31 for 2 in the powerplay following the early loss of both openers.
Their partnership had put Australia on track for another 200-plus score before a mini-collapse threatened to derail them. But once again, Litchfield lit up the late overs with a jaw-dropping array of switch-hits and reverse sweeps to find all parts of the off-side rope in a 17-ball 36.
Annabel Sutherland made 19 off 13 to help Australia edge towards 200 but an excellent final over from Shamilia Connell saw them fall 10 runs short. She took two wickets, including Litchfield, and conceded just three runs to finish with 3 for 25 from three overs.