Women’s T20 World Cup 2016: 5 reasons why West Indies won final against in-form Australia

West Indies Women's team had a mixed start to the Sunday fixture against Australia Women.

This particular season has been one of the most fruitful ones for West Indies in cricket. With the Under-19 World Cup trophy already in pocket, it was the women’s and men’s ICC World T20 that the teams were looking forward to end it on a sweet note and it became a fairy-tale indeed. April 3, 2016 started off pretty well with the Women’s team winning a close match against Australia Women and West Indies men’s team finished it well with their defeat over England. After the brilliant run, here are the five reasons that might have played the key role behind the women’s team’s success on Sunday. Full Cricket Scorecard: Australia Women vs West Indies Women, Final match, ICC Womens T20 World Cup 2016

West Indies Women’s comeback with ball: West Indies Women’s team had a mixed start to the Sunday fixture. Skipper Stafanie Taylor introduced spin in the second over as she handed the ball to Hayley Matthews and she did not disappoint her captain, getting Alyssa Healy caught and bowled in the last ball. But the pair of Elyse Villani and Australian skipper Meg Lanning built up a remarkable partnership that changed the momentum towards Australia. The partnership, at one point of a time, looked unbreakable but West Indies came back with the ball, as they restricted them to a total under-150.

Anisa Mohammed’s economical bowling: While all the West Indies Women’s bowlers were hammered all across the park, one bowler who delivered a stand-out performance was Anisa. As the other bowlers leaked runs, Anisa bowled economically brilliant, keeping it slow and gave away 19 runs in her four overs. She conceded just a single boundary during her spell while bagged the crucial wicket of Meg Lanning.

Deandra Dottin’s brilliant death over: In a game like Twenty20 (T20), a last over that brings only one run and 2 wickets is a dream. But West Indies Women’s Deandra Dottin made that happen with her terrific death bowling. In a format where 6 runs make a huge difference, Dottin restricted the opponents from scoring more than a run and bagged two wickets in the final over. She first got Elysse Perry lbw, and then successfully executed a run out to get Erin Osborne out. But what was more important than the wickets was the fact that she did not concede runs which helped them hold Australia back at 148 only.

West Indies Women’s brilliant opening partnership: What Lanning and Villani did for Australia, Hayley Matthews and Stafanie Taylor did for West Indies Women’s and in an even better way. The openers got going and there was no stopping them till the 15th over. Australia, a balanced side with top-ranked bowlers, failed to taste success till the 15th over and the openers had already done the damage, scoring a huge chunk of the target. The partnership added 120 runs and was surely the main reason behind the successful chase.

Poor fielding from Australia Women: The fielding skills of the team have been praised time and again but the heat of the Sunday clash compelled them to lose it due to lack of presence of mind. The game went down to the last over with hopes for both the teams still alive to win the game. With three runs needed and six balls in hand, Perry started off the final over well. But the third ball of the over, as a result of an overthrow, turned to two runs and West Indies Women’s won the game. The batsman was well out of her crease and it could have been an easy run out if the fielder had come running with the ball instead of missing the stumps by a mile.

(Paulami Chakraborty, a singer, dancer, artist, and photographer, loves the madness of cricket and writes about the game. She can be followed on Twitter at @Polotwitts)

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