Women’s T20 World Cup 2024/25, ENG-W vs WI-W 20th Fit, Workforce B Fit document, 15 October 2024


West Indies 144 for 4 (Joseph 52, Matthews 50, Glenn 1-20) won England141 for 7 (Sciver-Brunt 57*, Fletcher 3-21, Matthews 2-25) across six wickets

The West Indies pulled off the biggest heist of this T20 World Cup and qualified for the semi-finals, against all expectations, eliminating one of the favourites, England.

Having completely crushed England in 2018, the West Indies snapped a 13-match losing streak and crowned Team B to set up a semi-final against New Zealand in Sharjah. That pace was also West Indies’ best performance in a T20 World Cup semi-final.

This is only the second life England have lost in the last 16 of a T20 World Cup and were then eliminated at team level in 2010. After winning their first three matches, they were assured of making the overall four in this life. Instead, it is South Africa who leads the West Indies, while England is third in the rankings.

The West Indies’ victory was all the more impressive because they were without former captain and veteran batsman Stafanie Taylor, who is suffering from a knee injury. In his absence, Hayley Matthews and Qiana Joseph figured out the method and negated most of the 142-run goal. Matthews, playing in his 100th T20I, scored his 14th half-century on structure day. Joseph, who had a personal best of 34 before this game, scored 38 runs and 52. The pair shared a stand of 102 in 13 overs and the West Indies were on their way. This is the sixth life that West Indies have successfully chased a total of over 140, and the second life since their record-breaking chase of 213 against Australia last December.

England may have an idea that they had enough in Nat Sciver-Brunt’s half-century, but lacked contributions from the remains of the series. Adding to their worries, Heather Knight retired with a calf injury in the 21st over, with the score at 80 for three, halting the momentum England regained and then fell to 34 for three in the seventh over. Afy Fletcher and Deandra Dottin, bowling for the first time in the tournament, took four wickets between them and conceded 37 runs in seven overs, giving the West Indies a lead which they maintained throughout the game.

The West Indies whirlwind begins

West Indies sons Zaida James and Ashmini Munisar told ESPNcricinfo a few days ago about their perseverance in developing a new legacy for West Indies cricket and they almost came together to start that lately. James, recovering from a chin-high fribble, bowled her second ball to Maia Bouchier, who flicked it to Munisar at shield height but fired an easy angle. Bouchier went straight for the first boundary of the innings and England were up and away until Matthews came straight in to bowl. Danni Wyatt-Hodge hit her at the back of point for four, but when she tried for that second life, Dottin lunged forward to rush a low catch and West Indies stepped up. On the closest, Alice Capsey was run over by one, risking Dottin’s arm at her own risk, and in an instant after the power play, Bouchier dodged past Afy Fletcher to Qiana Joseph in the residual shield. England hit 34 for three in the seventh and were shocked.

Knight and Nat: stable after the increase

Sciver-Brunt survived an lbw assessment at 2 when Fletcher threw his leg out and went straight to clear his boundary with a spin on Shemaime Campbelle and that gave England the lead. Knight bisected the residual shield and midfielder for two overs in a row to take England to fifty-over. The pair then went for sweeps and England were working on 79 for three and then 12 overs when the injury occurred. Knight had treatment during all of that, but then left the pasture in fear of a calf. In life, the partnership was 46 off 36 balls, which was standing for more than 30 in the innings. Sciver-Brunt watched Amy Jones hand Dotting a catch at backward point and Charlie Dean picked out Matthews at mid-wicket as the 17th over began. She played almost alone by scoring 14 runs in the 18th over and 13 in the 20th to sign up for her 14th T20I half-century and take England to 140-plus.

Maximum runs in an over and best possible powerplay rating

It took until the general duel at the team level to see some proper aggression ahead of time and it came from the team with the recognition of attacking hard, but not always the consequences. Matthews, who has recorded scores of 10, 8 and 34 in the tournament so far and hasn’t been as much of a presence with the bat, hit Lauren Bell over long leg for 6 off the second ball. He went on to hit fours through an excellent leg and mid-wicket and the first Bell over value, the most expensive of the tournament so far. Matthew owned the opening and she and Joseph took advantage of their luck to deal with the remnants of the power play, but not without some nerves.

Firdose Moonda is ESPNcricinfo’s correspondent for South Africa and women’s cricket



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