Welcome to Sportstar's coverage of the Women's World Cup [CWC 2022] semifinal match between Australia and West Indies in Wellington on Wednesday.
Meg Lanning: I have been involved in some very stressful semi-finals in the past. West Indies put us under pressure early on but credit to Haynes and Healy. We felt that first hour was very important. We have felt on a fresh wicket here and conditions can be tricky early on. (On Gardner's promotion) We just felt like we had a good platform and Gardner plays well in those situation. We try to get the most out of our batting line-up and we tried that. Up against a very dangerous team, the batters set us up nicely and the bowlers were disciplined. We want to win the tournament at the end of the day. (On South Africa and England) Both are incredible teams and we won't watch too much of it. I will try and distract myself.
Stephanie Taylor: When you look at it, such partnership deflates the whole team. That's what Australia did and the amount of dropped catches never helped. To chase down that total, we had to be positive. We needed somebody from the top four to bat through but we didn't have that. We never talked about Dottin-Matthews opening because Rashada is a strokeplayer and Dottin is a strokemaker. They complement each other and we didn't want to lose both Dottin and Matthews. It was really hard given the batters who were out. We were looking at getting something from the game and get the team to 200. For me personally, disappointed with my performance. I didn't contribute to the team as I would have liked. I was carrying a niggle with by bowling arm and it was a bit hard for me personally. We were flying around and didn't have momentum to recover at the back end.
Healy: I would rate my performance 'here there and everywhere'. I still could have gotten more but I'm somewhat satisfied. We talked a lot about being patient, before this game, and I guess ODIs are always about being patient, waiting for the right moment to strike. Rach's (Rachael Haynes) cool composure just kept me in the moment and helped me tick the scoreboard. Reaching the final is what we were obviously planned to when the tournament started, we've always wanted to be at Hagley Oval on the 3rd and I think today was just a stepping stone to that. The girls played outstanding today, given the conditions that were thrown to us. It's a nice place to be.
Player of the match: Alyssa Healy (129 off 107 balls)
4:50AM: TOSS: West Indies wins the toss, choose to bowl
Playing XI: AUS: Healy, Haynes, Lanning, Mooney, McGrath, Sutherland, Gardner, Jonassen, King, Schutt,Brown
Playing XI: WI: Dottin, Williams, Matthews, Taylor, Campbelle, Nation, Knight, Henry, Mohammed, Connell, Ramharack
4:15AM: ROAD TO THE SEMIS
Unbeaten in the group stage, the Aussies cruised into the semifinals fairly comfortably. West Indies needed to wait for the very last day of the league stage and hope for either an England or India loss to make it through. This might be a sore spot for many Indian fans, but here's a look at that final day and the game between India and South Africa which broke Indian hearts but gave West Indians a reason to celebrate.
4AM UPDATE: No real damage to the pitch or outfield but a drizzle is still around so the teams are not able to get underway just yet. The ICC made a video package previewing the game. You can watch that here as we wait for things to get going in Wellington.
3:40AM: Head to head: Australia and West Indies have played 14 ODIs between them. Australia has won 13, while West Indies has managed to win only one.
3:30 AM: INJURY/SQUAD UPDATES:
Changes for both sides ahead of this semifinal clash. Veteran West Indies spinner Afy Fletcher has been ruled out after testing positive for COVID-19 . Mandy Mangru, who is in New Zealand as a travelling reserve, has been drafted into the squad as Fletcher's replacement and is in contention to play her first game of the tournament on Wednesday.
Fletcher has picked up four wickets from three matches at the showpiece, with her best haul coming against Bangladesh when she collected 3/29 from 10 overs in Mount Maunganui.
Deja vu for Australia's Ellyse Perry as she misses another World Cup semifinal, this time due to a back issue . Perry has been vital to the Australian juggernaut this time with five wickets in six inning and 146 runs in five innings to her name. She was also named Player of the Match in the league games against New Zealand and the West Indies. Annabel Sutherland is expected to fill in for her. Tahlia McGrath and Nicola Carey are available too to step in.
3:20AM: RECAP: LEAGUE STAGE GAME: Australia thumped West Indies by 7 wickets
A dominant Australia confidently carried on its march towards a record seventh title as it pummelled West Indies by seven wickets in a lop-sided league stage contest to register its fourth consecutive win at the ICC Women's World Cup.
West Indies, the 2013 runner-up side, was no match for Australia as the team from the Caribbeans was bundled out for a meagre 131 in 45.5 overs after opting to bat. Skipper Stafanie Taylor played a lone hand with a fighting 91-ball 50 as West Indies lost wickets at regular intervals.
Ellyse Perry (3/22) and Ashleigh Gardner (3/25) shared six wickets between them for Australia, while Jess Jonassen picked up two scalps giving away 18 runs.
Opener Rachael Haynes steered Australia's chase as she hit a stylish 83 not out off 95 balls with the help of nine boundaries to anchor Australia's chase after it suffered two early blows in the form of Alyssa Healy and Lanning.
With Australia in a spot of bother at seven for two and later 58 for three, Haynes took the onus on herself to guide the innings in Beth Mooney's (28 not out) company and the duo overwhelmed the target easily in 30.2 overs. Chinelle Henry (1/20), Hayley Matthews (1/31) and Shamilia Connell (1/32) picked up a wicket each for the Windies.
3:15AM: The toss is delayed due to a light shower in Wellington.
The weather is expected to clear and we are to have a full game but we have to get through this delay.
3 AM: Hello everyone! After 28 matches, we are finally at the business end of the 12th edition of the Women's Cricket World Cup in New Zealand. The tournament which was initially scheduled to be played in February - March 2021, was postponed by a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. After an interesting league stage, we are down to our last four teams - Australia, South Africa, England and West Indies. Two of them, the Aussies and the Windies battle it out today for a place in the final.
WHERE AND WHEN TO WATCH? LIVE STREAMING DETAILS
The ICC Women's ODI World Cup semifinal match will be broadcast on the Star Sports Network and Disney+ Hotstar at 3:30 AM IST.
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