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 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.
Joseph came off the mark with a thick outside edge between backward level and third down which went for four, after hitting Sciver-Brunt deep at mid-wicket, where the ball went through the arms of Sophia Dunkley for four more. She settled in the nearest over and hit Charlie Dean for 6 before taking over England trump card Sophie Ecclestone for consecutive boundaries. West Indies finished 67 unbeaten in the powerplay, the best possible result of the tournament so far.
England drops rise
Dunkley’s release was the start of one of England’s worst fielding performances in recent years as they managed five off-catches. In the fifth over, Joseph was on 31 when he skied Sciver-Brunt into the night sky and, although Alice Capsey got under him at level, she tried to catch him inverted and dropped him. Then, on 35 in the eighth over, Joseph hit Sarah Glenn at mid-wicket, where Bouchier ran to her left but let it slip through her hands. The ball followed Bouchier for a modest day and was not tied cleanly at mid-wicket when Campbelle called Dottin to run. Bouchier berated herself and England had been falling apart. According to ball-by-ball data from ESPNcricinfo, there were 75 dropped catches at tournament team level, with England responsible for nine, the third most of all teams.
Firdose Moonda is ESPNcricinfo’s correspondent for South Africa and women’s cricket
