3 minute read
The Women's T20 World Cup will see first-time champions crowned after New Zealand beat West Indies to set up a final with South Africa.
New Zealand and South Africa will contest the T20 World Cup final, with even Australian skipper Alyssa Healy admitting that crowning first-time winners of the tournament on Sunday will be a special moment for women's cricket.
Following Australia's sensational eight-wicket exit at the hands of an inspired South African team in Dubai on Thursday, New Zealand held their nerve in Sharjah on Friday to advance to the final for the first time in 14 years with an eight-run victory over West Indies.
Their final-over hero was the nerveless 37-year-old veteran Suzie Bates, bowling in a World Cup match for the first time in eight years, who was coolness personified as West Indies needed 15 to win.
The vastly experienced medium pacer, who's played in every one of the nine Women's T20 World Cups, gave up a boundary off the first ball, but conceded only two more runs off the rest of the over.
It put New Zealand in sight of their first triumph after finishing runners-up in 2009 and 2010, and left Healy conceding after Australia's domination was ended: "A New Zealand-South Africa final is exciting, it's going to be really cool to see a fresh winner of the trophy.
"We can just show how far this game's come."
It completed a great day for New Zealand sport, with Rachin Ravindra scoring a hundred for the men's cricket team in the Test they're dominating against India in Bengaluru and their sailors earning two more wins against Great Britain off Barcelona to move to the brink of retaining the America's Cup.
In Sharjah, starring for the White Ferns, who had been well beaten by Australia earlier in the tournament, was player of the match Eden Carson, who took 3-29, while Amelia Kerr picked up 2-14 in four overs as West Indies' chase was restricted to 8-120.
It was a tremendous effort after the 2016 champions, West Indies, had themselves done a good job to hold New Zealand to 9-128 after the White Ferns chose to bat first.
Bates' fine allround match had begun with her leading New Zealand's impressive opening charge with a brisk 26 off 28 balls, while sharing a 48-run stand off 50 balls with top scorer Georgia Plimmer (33 off 31).
West Indies' Deandra Dottin was the big danger, starting with her 4-22 in four overs before she also threatened to win the match with the bat, hammering 33 off 22 balls before she holed out off Kerr, much to the New Zealanders' relief, in the 17th over.
"I'm a bit emotional but really proud of the girls. When Dottin was pumping us, we believed and stuck it out to get over the line," said Carson.
"We had to defend a below par total and get those early wickets because West Indies is a dangerous side."
West Indies captain Hayley Matthews said: "With the bat we probably just weren't able to get going early on and that put us under pressure early.
"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."
