Aussies devastate Windies in Women's T20 semis

Windies captain Stafanie Taylor has once against bemoaned her side's batting performance. This time it was after their 71-run loss to Australia in the ICC Women's World T20 semi-final match at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in St John's, Antigua, yesterday.

The Windies Women produced good bowling and fielding after winning the toss and sending the Aussies in to set a score. They were restricted to 142 for five off their 20 overs. However, with a target of 143 to get into the final to defend their title won in 2016, the batting order crumbled early on in their innings and bowled out for 71 in 17.3 overs.

"I just believe we didn't bat well," Taylor told journalists gathered at the post game press conference. "It's the first I've ever seen such bowling and the fielding was really good. I haven't seen anything like it. I thought our all-round performance was good, just today we were a bit off in the batting.

"I just believe that we didn't give ourselves a chance to spend some time at the wicket. I believe that this wicket was a great opportunity to do that. It was a bit slow, but I found that in the second half that the ball was coming on a bit better, so I believe that if we had spent time at the wicket, it would have been different.

Offspinner Anisa Mohammed has not featured in the team since its first game of the tournament against Bangladesh, but Taylor was asked if her inclusion yesterday would have had made a difference to the result.

"We thought that the team was the best team (we could have put out)," Taylor said. "We've been changing the team. Anisa (Mohammed) could have (come in) but it didn't happen. At the end of the day, we just believe that the team we put out was the best team."

Australia will now meet the winners of the second semi-final between England and India in the final on Sunday. Their game was still in progress at press time.

SCOREBOARD

AUSTRALIA

B Mooney c McLean b Selman 6

+A Healy c Connell b Fletcher 46

*M Lanning b Dottin 31

A Gardner c Henry b Matthews 14

E Villani c Cooper b Taylor 6

R Haynes not out 25

E Perry not out 3

Extras: (lb5, w6) 11

TOTAL: (5 wkts, 20 overs) 142

Did not bat: S Molineux, D Kimmince, G Wareham, M Schutt.

Fall of wickets: 1-20 (Mooney), 2-71 (Healy), 3-95 (Gardner), 4-109 (Lanning), 5-113 (Villani)

Bowling: Selman 4-0-28-1, Connell 2-0-9-0, Taylor 4-0-20-1, Matthews 4-0-24-1, Fletcher 4-0-33-1, Dottin 2-0-23-1.

WEST INDIES

H Matthews run out 5

D Dottin b Ellyse Perry 6

*S Taylor c Wareham b Molineux 16

S Campbelle c Molineux b Perry 7

N McLean c Lanning b Kimmince 0

+K Knight c Perry b Gardner 7

B Cooper c wkp Healy b Kimmince 2

C Henry c Wareham b Schutt 8

A Fletcher b Gardner 3

S Connell not out 6

S Selman st Healy b Wareham 3

Extras: (lb3 , w5) 8

TOTAL: (all out, 17.3 overs) 71

Fall of wickets: 1-15 (Matthews), 2-15 (Dottin), 3-25 (Campbelle), 4-27 (McLean), 5-44 (Taylor), 6-45 (Knight), 7-53 (Cooper), 8-60 (Henry), 9-60 (Fletcher), 10-71 (Selman).

Bowling: Schutt 3-0-13-1, Molineux 3-0-14-1, Perry 2-1-2-2, Kimmince 4-0-17-2, Gardner 4-0-15-2, Wareham 1.3-0-7-1.

Result: Australia won by 71 runs.

Series: Australia advance to final.

Player-of-the-Match: Alyssa Healy.

Toss: West Indies.

Umpires: Langton Rusere, Nitin Menon; TV - Ahsan Raza.