West Indies v Australia World T20 Final Review: Calypso Queens crush Australia to win their first title

West Indies women created history after they beat defending champions Australia by 8 wickets to clinch their maiden World T20 title. Australia were touted as the favorites to win and headed into the game with an impressive 8-0 head-to-head record over West Indies Women. But the ‘Calypso Queens’, who had qualified for the summit clash for the first time, put on a stellar show and made the decisive contest look like a one-sided affair.

Meg Lanning won the toss on a humid day at the Eden Gardens and opted to bat with an unchanged Australia Women. The Aussies then went on to post a challenging 148/5 in 20 overs with the help of half-centuries from Elyse Villani (52 from 37 balls) and Meg Lanning (52 from 49 balls).

The start was tough but openers Hayley Matthews and skipper Stefanie Taylor were determined and completely ransacked the Australian bowlers and placed match defining innings. Both struck amazing half centuries and weaved a wonderful 120 runs opening wicket stand. It was a highly aggressive show from the openers who made the chase look like a walk in the park.

After a silent couple of overs at the start, Matthews freed her arms and began the hammer, striking a couple of fours and a six in the 3rd and the 4th over. Skipper Taylor also switched gears and clobbered a six and two fours in the 5th over. Both openers took the team total past 50 run mark by the end of the powerplay over.

Soon both openers flourished wildly and runs flowed freely. Matthews, especially, looked unstoppable and batted with great intensity. The match looked completely in West Indies’ favor at the halfway stage of the 2nd innings. Both were threatening to finish the match all on their own. But, Kristen Beams soon applied brakes on the partnership after she claimed the wicket of the dangerous Matthews in the 16th over.

However, the fall of Matthews did not bring any turnaround as Taylor and Deandra Dottin then continued with the momentum as West Indies inched closer towards the historic win. Unfortunately, skipper Taylor could not stay at the crease till the end after she lost her wicket in the penultimate over.

But, Dottin did not delay the victory for long as she comfortably nudged the handful amount of runs required to chase down the winning total.

Previously, the Aussies women had to deal with an early blow initially, losing the wicket of Alyssa Healy falling in the 2nd over. It was a cheeky dismissal after the wicket-keeper batsman gave a simple return catch off a full toss to Hayley Matthews.

Villani and Lanning then ensured that there is stability and stitched a breezy 77 runs stand for the 2nd wicket before Villani lost her wicket in the 12th over. But, the stand had set the perfect launch pad for the rest to come and stretch the total.

All-rounder Elyse Perry came in next and along with her skipper ensured that the run rate did not dip at all.  Lanning, however, soon departed after completing her half century in the 18th over. She played a very sensible innings, starting off slowing and then switching to aggression to push the scoring rate.  Perry carried on from there and batted for an aggressive 23 balls 28 run knock bringing in some important runs during the last stages of the game.

Brief Scores:

Australia Women: 148/5 in 20 overs (Elyse Villani 52; Deandra Dottin 2/33)

West Indies Women: 149/2 in 19.3 overs (Hayley Matthews 66; Kristen Beams 1/27)

Player of the Match: Hayley Matthew

Player of the Series: Stafanie Taylor