Kolkata: A spirited West Indies women’s team, in their bid to make it a Dream Double for the assortment of islands, will come out all guns blazing to stop the juggernaut of the three-time defending champions Australia in the final of the ICC World Twenty20, here on Sunday.
The Southern Stars as the Aussie women are known in the cricketing
circuit, have been on a roll since winning the second edition of the Women’s World Twenty20 in 2010. Led by Meg Lanning, the Australian women’s side choked archrivals Englands 133-run chase with a five-run victory in the semifinal. Lanning has been their leading run-getter with 149 runs and against England her 50-ball 55 on a slow Kotla deck was the cornerstone to their winning total of 132/6. More than Lannings effort it was inspiring with the way Australia prevailed in small contributions from the toporder to inflict their killer instinct on England.
They were provided a strong start from the openers Alyssa Healy and Elyse Villani with a 41-run stand, their highest of the tournament. Under criticism for over dependence on Lanning, Alyssa took the attack to the English pace spearhead Katherine Brunt, that really set the tone as they could muster a fine Powerplay performance. “Weve been pleased with our squad of 15 and our overall performance. I disagree that we relied heavily on one player. We’ve chased low totals. We’ve really benefited from the way Elyse Villani has kicked into gears and taken the game away in the early overs,” Alex Blackwell said.
