Sara McGlashan crashed her highest Twenty20 score to lead the White Ferns to a 56 run win over the West Indies in the ICC World Twenty20 semi-final at Beausejour Stadium, St Lucia.
Player-of-the-match McGlashan hit 84 off 55 balls and shared a decisive 93 run stand with Sophie Devine as the White Ferns put on 180 for five, while the West Indies could only muster 124 for eight.
They now progress to the final at Kensington Oval in Barbados where they face Australia on Monday 17th May (NZ time).
It wasn’t the best start for the White Ferns who were put into bat with Suzie Bates going for seven followed by Aimee Watkins for a brisk 20.
McGlashan and Devine then slowly built their partnership before flicking the switch in the 11th over. A number of hefty overs followed as the pair ran aggressively between the wickets and punished any bad deliveries to or over the boundary.
When Devine went for 27 after 16.1 overs they had already posted 142. McGlashan was unluckily run-out in the next over leaving Nicola Browne to finish the innings off with a 15 run cameo.
In reply, the West Indian openers Pamela Lavine and Stafanie Taylor wasted no time in taking on the White Ferns attack, racing to 23 inside three overs.
The loss of Lavine for seven didn’t stop the onslaught and at 70 for two after ten overs they adventurously eyed the target. They then suffered a massive blow when Taylor was run-out for 41 off 33 deliveries.
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Strike bowler Browne dispelled any hope of victory when she removed the dangerous Deandra Dottin for just one.
The New Zealand spinners were able to take control with the West Indian middle order lacking the punch to chase down the target in spite of their solid start.
Browne was the pick of the bowlers, delivering an aggressive spell of fast bowling that was punctuated by quality short pitched deliveries. She finished with two for 20 with spinner Lucy Doolan returning the same figures.
Watkins picked up a couple of late wickets to end with three for 26.
Speaking after the game Watkins said: “We have created some good momentum and I thought today it showed the things we are capable of.
“It was good to see two of our senior players, Sara McGlashan and Nicola Browne, stand up with huge performances today.
The White Ferns lost the final to England last year and are keen to turn that around against Australia.
“Number two doesn’t sit too well with us after two second places last year so we are definitely looking to go one better, Watkins said. “We’ve had good success against Australia recently in the last couple of months so we will be leaning on those memories”
Schedule
6/05/2010 White Ferns vs India - Group B match
Warner Park, St Kitts
+1day NZ, 6:00am
Result: White Ferns won by 10 runs
8/05/2010 White Ferns vs Sri Lanka- Group B match
Warner Park, St Kitts
+1day NZ, 6:00am
Result: White Ferns won by 47 runs
10/05/2010 White Ferns vs Pakistan - Group B match
Warner Park, St Kitts
+1day NZ, 2:00am
Result: White Ferns won by 6 wickets
14/05/10 White Ferns v West Indies – Semi-final
Beausejour Stadium, St Lucia
+1day NZ, 8:00am
Result: White Ferns won by 56 runs
16/05/2010 White Ferns v Australia – Final
Kensington Oval, Barbados
+1day NZ, 8:00am
