NEWS
Follow UsSophie Devine won the toss and elected to bat first in Sharjah in the second semi-final of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2024. While New Zealand have gone with the same squad, the Windies have brought back their World Cup winning skipper Stafanie Taylor back in their side, which would bolster their batting.
In terms of the sides' journeys, if there were two teams nobody thought would make the top four, it would probably have been the West Indies and New Zealand. The reasons are obvious.
West Indies have not been a force to reckon with in international women’s cricket despite winning the T20 World Cup in 2016. But ever since Deandra Dottin returned, this side has looked different. Hayley Matthews now knows that she has someone reliable and extremely powerful down the order, and the confidence is reflected in the way the team came together to pulverise England and make the semi-finals despite their senior-most player being injured.
Meanwhile, New Zealand were coming after winning almost nothing in this entire year, however, they started with a spectacular 58 run victory over India that put all those doubts to rest at once. This wasn’t going to be a pushover team, and that’s the way Sophie Devine and her women have played in the tournament so far, losing only against Australia.
Whoever wins from here will be a great final, and the world will get a new winner in the Women’s T20 World Cup.
Playing XIs
New Zealand: Suzie Bates, Georgia Plimmer, Amelia Kerr, Sophie Devine (c), Brooke Halliday, Maddy Green, Isabella Gaze (wk), Rosemary Mair, Lea Tahuhu, Eden Carson, Fran Jonas
West Indies: Hayley Matthews (c), Qiana Joseph, Shemaine Campbelle (wk), Deandra Dottin, Stafanie Taylor, Chinelle Henry, Zaida James, Ashmini Munisar, Aaliyah Alleyne, Afy Fletcher, Karishma Ramharack
What did the captains say
Sophie Devine: We'll bat first. We think the wicket looks good. Obviously a new strip for us here. Hopefully get runs on the board and put pressure on WI. Have been fortunate with the schedule to get a couple of days off to be able to reflect and soak in the highs of making it through to the semis. But we've been focussed these last two days on having some really good training. Have been able to implement a couple of things that we think will help us have success tonight. Same team. Thankfully not too many of us around who played that (SF against WI in 2016). Obviously, the game has grown so much since that tournament.
Hayley Matthews: We were actually going to have a bowl. Have been successful doing that. Everyone within the dressing room is still really hungry taking two steps further. One change - Stafanie Taylor is back for Nation. Shows how the world game is growing. Really good where we can have a tournament where teams in the middle half are reaching the finals. Hopefully, it does a lot for those teams and helps get cricket out of the top three a bit more, and gives opportunity to teams at the bottom of the rankings.
Pitch Report
Lydia Greenway inspects the deck and says there is a nice breeze in Sharjah, and the temperatures are a bit cooler from the start of the tournament. For this game, pitch five is being used, which was used on the first day of the tournament. Anjum Chopra also joins her and adds that there is a nice green cover, and the pitch is well-rested as well. They reckon that scoring down the ground, as Plimmer did earlier in the tournament at this venue against Sri Lanka, could be the best scoring opportunity for the batters.
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