GALLE, Sri Lanka (CMC):

West Indies women lost the momentum in a dramatic penultimate over as Sri Lanka scraped through to a narrow five-run win by the Duckworth/Lewis method in the rain-affected Group B match of the World Twenty20 Championship yesterday.

Chasing a modest D/L target of 48 runs in eight overs, West Indies appeared on course to victory before imploding in a match twice interrupted by rain at Galle International Stadium.

Tremayne Smartt smashed a boundary off the first ball and collected nine runs in the opening over as the Caribbean side seized control.

Stafanie Taylor was run out for three off the first ball of the second over, a minor setback then as Deandra Dottin opened her account with a boundary to keep the game in West Indies' control.

Despite the loss of two quick wickets in the third over - Dottin leg before for four and Smart caught for eight - West Indies continued to attack, taking 10 runs off the fourth over.

A total of four batters went via the run-out route but West Indies were always ahead until a match-defining moment when they needed 12 off 12 with six wickets.

A nerve-racking six-ball spell, in which Juliana Nero and Shemaine Campbelle were stumped and Shanel Daley was run out, swung the match around and put the Sri Lankans in the driver's seat.

Earlier, West Indies had put Sri Lanka in to bat in a match reduced to 17 overs a side after a wet outfield had delayed the start by an hour.

Sri Lanka made a good start with 21 off three overs, but the loss of their openers in consecutive overs slowed them down.

The rains came again and Sri Lanka's innings was halted at 50 for 3 after 10.3 overs, with West Indies getting a revised D/L target of 48.

West Indies' loss meant that all four teams in the group are now tied on points.