Britney Cooper’s superb half century, supported by a fine all-round performance from the captain Stafanie Taylor, took West Indies into their first World Twenty20 final. Taylor, opening the batting, scored 25 runs from 26 balls and later took three wickets to stunt New Zealand’s reply as they fell six runs short of their target. Cooper’s ferocious knock of 61, from only 48 balls featuring two sixes – both off Leigh Kasperek – and five fours, helped her side to 143 for six from their 20 overs.
The West Indies total looked set to be even higher but they scored only 65 for the loss of five wickets in the final eight overs, with Sophie Devine taking four for 22.
New Zealand, who won the toss and opted to field, were restricted to 137 for eight in reply at the Wankhede Stadium. Their quick start was followed by as mini-collapse in one over, with the losses of Suzie Bates and Devine seeing them falter from 43 for 1 to 49 for 3.
A stand of 59 from Sara McGlashan and Amy Satterthwaite brought stability but runs were hard to come by. Afterwards, Taylor said: “We’ve been waiting for this for a long time and it really feels great to have made the final. We can win if we are consistent enough – we can definitely pull it off.”
Her opposite number, Bates, praised an “amazing” innings from Cooper and admitted they had been beaten by the better side. She said: “It has been an outstanding tournament for us, but we were on the wrong side of a very good performance by the West Indies today.”
West Indies will face Australia at Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Sunday afternoon.
