New Zealand in the second semifinals of the Women’s T20 World Cup beat West Indies by eight runs

While the scorecard considers a margin of 8 runs a comfortable win in the T20 format, the game was well-fought. In the last overs, New Zealand had to face and overcome an all-around brilliant performance from West Indies veteran Diandra Dottin to win the game.

Brief score

New Zealand 128 for 9 (Plimmer 33, Dottin 4-22, Fletcher 2-23)

West Indies 120 for 8 (Dottin 33, Carson 3-29, Kerr 2-14)

New Zealand wins by eight runs

The Semi-Final Clash

With the South African girls already in the Finals, the second Semi-Final clash on Friday was to determine the second finalist.

With both teams New Zealand and West Indies coming into the clash with some consistent cricket in the tournament, this game was expected to be a tough one to call.

The White Ferns batted first and started well with the openers, who brought the first 50 in 8.5 overs.

The Scoring rate however was slow and the run rate hurt the White Ferns who struggled to reach a total of 128 for the loss of 9 wickets.

The West Indies girls had their game face on and it was Deandra Dottin‘s brilliant bowling which kept the run rate from climbing. Dottin’s 4 wickets completely broke the batting momentum of the White Ferns innings.

For the New Zealand girls, no one stood up after the opening partnership. Only a quick fire 14 ball 20 runs by Isabella Gaze at the end brought the Kiwi innings to some respectable total.

A freak injury on the long-on fence saw Henry being taken off the ground, when she misjudged a catch of Dottin’s bowling and the ball directly hit her forehead. She did not take any further part in the game.

Concussion Player Substitute was used and Chedean Nation was brought in for Chinelle Henry.

West Indies Chase

With 129 to chase, an in-form West Indies batting lineup would have fancied an easy win even without Chinelle Henry who is known for her late-order hitting.

After an impressive last game against the English girls, the Windies openers were expected to give the team a similar start. Unfortunately, Joseph fell early followed by Campbell.

Impressive Kiwi youngster, Eden Carson took the two early wickets and restricted the Windies’ score to 25 in the powerplay overs.

After missing the last game due to a knee injury, Stafanie Taylor was back in the team to boast the batting but the partnership between her and captain Hayley Mathews was at a snail’s pace and hurt the Windies chase.

Only 28 runs were scored in the partnership off 41 balls.

New Zealand too was scratchy in their fielding dropping a total of five catches. This proved that there were nerves at play and the sense of occasion was affecting both team’s play.

With 78 required in the last 55 balls, Dottin was the most impressive player in the game giving a glimmer of hope with a quickfire  33 runs.

Amelia Kerr took out the dangerous Dottin which more or less sealed the fate of the Windies chase.

Amelia Kerr is the highest wicket-taker in this World Cup , but it was the spell of Carson that turned the game on its head.

Eden Carson was named the Player of the Match for a second successive game. She had figures of 3/29 in her 4 overs

After 14 years, New Zealand have entered the Finals of the Women’s T20 World Cup after they beat West Indies by eight runs.

The 2016 champions, West Indies came out short in the semifinals in a low-scoring thriller in Sharjah.

With this win, the 2024 championship will now have a first-time winner with both teams never having won the title ever.