Daren Sammy’s motivation from the side lines was not enough to secure West Indies women’s a final berth as they lost by eight runs to defending champions Australia in their World Tweny20 semifinal at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium yesterday.
The Caribbean women needed 16 from the last over but set Stacy-Ann King was not able to find a single boundary off medium fast bowler Rene Farrell, who had dismissed the West Indian skipper Merissa Aguilleira in the previous over, as the batting side eventually finished their innings on 132/4.
The start to the chase of 141 was bright with Kycia Knight (21) and Stafanie Taylor (24) adding 43 in seven overs before Deandra Dottin and King put on 73 for the third wicket to keep the charge on course.
Dottin and King dominated the Australian bowlers smashing the odd boundaries which eventually found them needing 21 from the last two overs. Dottin tried to smash Sarah Coyte but found the fielder at deep midwicket to leave in the penultimate over after scoring 40 off 35 balls with four fours and a six. West Indies could not recover from the loss which handed Australia a chance to clinch their hat-trick World T20 title.
Earlier, Elyse Villani (35) gave Australia a rapid start after they opted to bat first in the afternoon game. She added 32 for the first wicket with Jess Jonassen (5) before off spinner Anisa Mohammed dismissed her with the Aussies on 48.
Australian skipper Meg Lanning made 29 off 22 balls and tried to hold the ship together but lost partners in regular intervals before she too fell which left them reeling at 92 for 5.
However, wicketkeeper-batsman Alyssa Healy and Alex Blackwell stepped up and contributed 48 valuable runs which took them to 140. Healy remained unbeaten on 30 off just 21 balls smashing four boundaries while Blackwell was not out on 13.