MUMBAI, March 31: West Indies women held their nerves in the death overs as they entered the final beating New Zealand by 6 runs in an exciting second semifinal of the ICC World T20, here this evening.
Chasing a decent target of 144, New Zealand appeared to be cruising along till they lost a clutch of wickets and were stopped at 137 for 8 by West Indies, who made their maiden entry into the summit clash. They will face three-time defending champions Australia at Kolkata on April 3.
The Kiwis got off to a poor start losing opener Rachel Priest on 11 and then Sophie Devene hit four boundaries in her quick knock of 22 off 14 deliveries before being brilliantly run out by Diandra Dottin in the seventh over.
Skipper Suzie Bates (12 off 17 balls) was out in the same over. Sara McGlashan (38 off 30 balls) and Amy Satterthwaite (24 runs off 29 balls) then rallied the innings and tried to take the Kiwi side home but both these players departed in successive balls in the 17th over, paving the way for a West Indies win.
West Indies skipper Stafanie Taylor got these two scalps as both of them under pressure tried to hit and were caught out. In the very next over, Kate Perkins fell for 2 as the Kiwi team kept on losing wickets throughout their innings.
SCORECARD
West Indies: K Matthews lbw b Nielsen 16, S Taylor c Perkins b Devine 25, B Cooper c Priest b Devine 61, D Dottin b Devine 20, S King c Satterthwaite b Devine 4, M Aguilleira not out 15, S Campbelle run out (Satterthwaite/Priest) 0. Extras: (W 2) 2. Total: (6 wickets; 20 overs) 143. Fall of wickets: 1-18, 2-78, 3-122, 4-125, 5-140, 6-143. Bowling: M Nielsen 4-0-14-1, L Tahuhu 2-0-21-0, L Kasperek 3-0-30-0, E Bermingham 3-0-24-0, S Devine 4-0-22-4, S Bates 2-0-21-0, A Satterthwaite 2-0-11-0.
New Zealand: S Bates c Quintyne b Fletcher 12, R Priest b Connell 6, S Devine run out (Dottin) 22, S McGlashan c Campbelle b Taylor 38, A Satterthwaite c Campbelle b Taylor 24, K Martin not out 11, K Perkins c Dottin b Quintyne 2, L Kasperek st Aguilleira b Taylor 6, E Bermingham run out (Cooper/Aguilleira) 8. Extras: (LB 1, W 6, NB 1) 8. Total: (8 wickets; 20 overs) 137. Fall of wickets: 1-11, 2-43, 3-49, 4-108, 5-108, 6-116, 7-125, 8-137. Bowling: S Connell 3-0-22-1, D Dottin 4-0-29-0, H Matthews 2-0-18-0, A Fletcher 4-0-20-1, A Mohammed 1-0-10-0, S Taylor 4-0-26-3, S Quintyne 2-0-11-1. � PTI
