White Ferns hold nerve to squeak past West Indies into final
New Zealand are into their first Women’s T20 World Cup final since 2010 after withstanding an all-round onslaught from Deandra Dottin to claim a tense eight-run win over the West Indies.
Dottin shone to dump out England in what was effectively a quarter-final this week and claimed four for 22 as New Zealand put up 128 for nine after deciding to bat first on another clammy evening in Sharjah.
After New Zealand spinner Eden Carson claimed the wickets of Qiana Joseph, Shemaine Campbelle and Stafanie Taylor, and captain Hayley Matthews holed out off Lea Tahuhu, the Windies were on 55 for four in the 11th over.
Dottin, though, muscled three sixes in an over off Tahuhu to bring the equation down to 34 off 24 balls, only to then top-edge a sweep off Amelia Kerr to depart for 33 off just 22 deliveries.
West Indies needed 11 off the last five balls but Suzie Bates, bowling her first over of the tournament, held her nerve, castling Zaida James to ultimately seal victory for the White Ferns. They will take on South Africa in Sunday’s final in Dubai after the Proteas scored a remarkable upset victory over defending champions and firm favourites Australia 24 hours earlier. Neither South Africa nor New Zealand have won the tournament before.
“I’m a bit emotional but really proud of the girls,” player of the match Carson said. “When Deandra Dottin was pumping us all over the place I thought: ‘Oh no’ … but we stuck together, knew we could get it done and we got over the line in the end.”
West Indies captain Hayley Matthews admitted their batters could have done better. “With the bat we probably just weren’t able to get going early on and that put us under pressure early on,” she said. “We felt that based on the wicket they were probably a few runs short. We wanted to stay positive but we never really got it going.” Agencies
Updated
And that’s it from me. We’ll be back on Sunday, to crown the new Women’s T20 World Cup winners. Till then, goodbye!
