As the West Indies had done to the reigning champions, New Zealand, in another historic victory in Dubai at the previous T20 World Cup, Shemaine Campbelle turned her first T20I fifty into a powerful, game-winning knock of 90 not out from 62 balls. She outmuscled them in a raw display of power-hitting that caused error after error from a shell-shocked fielding unit.
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| Shemaine Campbelle led the West Indies to a historic triumph |
Campbelle hit seven fours and three sixes to surpass a difficult mark of 163 with only one ball remaining, leaving New Zealand's fielders with no fewer than seven clear-cut opportunities—not to mention the ones that didn't come to hand fast enough.
After her opening partner, Qiana Joseph, was shockingly run out in the second over, Hayley Matthews, her captain, regained her composure and set the pace with 48 from 37 balls, breaking the back of the pursuit in a 74-run stand for the second wicket.
The excessive anxiety in the last stages of the match summed up New Zealand's lost chance. Sophie Devine, the oldest stager in New Zealand, did everything in her power to pull off a miracle with just four runs to defend.
She held the West Indies to two scrambled leg-byes from the next four despite scoring two runs off the opening ball of the over. Jahzara Claxton's air shot increased the strain. However, Campbelle made a final push and narrowly defeated Izzy Gaze's smashing of the stumps to secure a historic victory.
Beef and barbecued
In what appeared to be the real flashpoint of the evening, if only New Zealand's fielders had confronted Matthews with the same determination as her own opening partner.
After hitting back-to-back fours through deep third off Bree Illing, Matthews smacked a third shot in the same way and instinctively started for a single ten balls into the innings. She chose to jog past a stunned Joseph and sacrifice herself instead of accepting her own fate, even though there was never a run as a point charged.
As she stalked back to the pavilion, Joseph, furious, knocked into her captain and gave her a piece of her mind. Two Matthews balls later, when a top-edged sweep went high to deep backward square, her outrage could have been justified, but Izzy Sharp took full advantage of the chance.
After making a dive for a close second run, Matthews suffered a cramp attack and was considerably reprimanded for the rest of a 35-run power play. However, the more time she spent hiding, the more uneasy New Zealand appeared to be.
New Zealand literally drops the ball
Melie Kerr's crude review for lbw, which came right off the toe of Matthews' bat, was influenced by a 13-run seventh over. Campbelle, who was a little less of a threat on a run-a-ball 19, survived a clanger of a stumping chance from Gaze as she sped past Devine's first ball of the evening.
When Campbelle missed a reverse sweep on 24 but was shown to have been struck outside the line, Melie Kerr believed she had made progress. However, New Zealand's fielding effort collapsed when Matthews delivered her most powerful blow of the evening, a huge inside-out six over extra cover. To give Matthews another chance, Nensi Patel dropped a leading edge off her own bowling right away. A ball later, Melie Kerr spilt a dolly on the cover ring while Campbelle miscued a hoick down the ground.
When Matthews eventually holed out to long-on off Jess Kerr, Green was able to counter the trend. Three overs later, she surpassed that performance with an astonishingly calm take at the other end of the ground, reaching up and clawing down a usually massive mow for the fences from Deandra Dottin.
However, the West Indies had raced out of sight in the interim. After another drop from her own bowling, Campbelle hit two massive sixes off Melie Kerr to reach a fifty off 39 balls. It was almost time for the agony train to reach its destination when she added another in Kerr's last over, with 27 needed from three.
The gaze begins with a flame
At the beginning of the match, New Zealand's poise hadn't seemed nearly so fragile, and Gaze were starting their innings boldly in fantastic batting conditions. She had hit eight fours in the first five overs before her new opening partner, Georgia Plimmer, got a look-in. She had steered Zaida James behind square on the off-side twice in the first over.
When Matthews failed to hold onto a regulation return opportunity in the third over and bowled to Gaze's right, it was a harbinger of things to come. When Gaze took her for three more fours in her subsequent over to advance to 37 from 23 balls, her irritation was exacerbated. The reigning champions were playing with the freedom that their skipper, Melie Kerr, had promised on the eve of their campaign, at 49 for 0 in the sixth over.
Alleyne's stars align
Aaliyah Alleyne was a modest way for the West Indies to rally for victory. She put the skids under New Zealand with three quality wickets in six balls while maintaining a defiant medium speed and a high nagging action. The first to give up was Plimmer, who attempted to launch a short ball high over the leg-side but instead caught Deandra Dottin's bucket hands at deep backward square.
Then, after Kerr announced her intentions with a ramp for four through deep third, Alleyne's two consecutive breakthroughs tore apart New Zealand's innings. Karishma Ramharack scooped up Kerr's nothing shot at mid-on as Alleyne curved the entire length into her pads, making it difficult for her to launch her next throw clean down the ground.
Gaze threw it away in the same way moments later, following a first-ball single for the arriving Devine. Ramharack sealed the deal again with another fluffed drive through the line that looped off the toe of the bat. That explosive start was gone at 56 for 3 in the eighth over.
For New Zealand, Halliday and Green hold the line
When it was announced that Suzie Bates would be absent from their starting lineup for the first time in the Women's T20 World Cup's history, New Zealand had hinted at a change of personnel at the toss. However, their other former stager had another crucial supporting job to fulfil. Devine joined Brooke Halliday in a crucial boost just weeks after an amazing performance of 87 from 57 balls had saved New Zealand from 11 for 4 against England.
The stand of 45 from 29 balls helped signal New Zealand's onslaught through the back end, but she only managed 22 from 15 balls before falling victim to another brilliant catch in the deep, this time from Claxton. Alleyne unavoidably caused another scuff to mid-on to end the remarkable figures of 4 for 27, but Halliday took charge, combining strong thumps down the ground with well-timed reverse-sweeps to make 40 from 32.
But New Zealand wasn't finished yet. As the West Indies failed to finish a valiant showing in the field, Green put the hammer down in the final overs, striking 35 not out from 22, including a lustful straight six from Afy Fletcher and four fours from her final eight balls. In the end, their difficulties were insignificant compared to those they would cause to their rivals.
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