West Indies snuff England hopes with maiden win over Australia

Dottin sets up shock victory to ensure rematch in final; England to play New Zealand again for third place.

Suzie Bates, right, played a captain's knock of 79 for New Zealand but once the opener got out at the score of 145 for two, the White Ferns collapsed and lost to England by 15 runs. Pal Pillai / GettyShow more

The West Indies picked the ideal moment to claim their first ever win over Australia in a 50-over match yesterday as they reached the final of the women's cricket World Cup.

They defeated the five-time champions by eight runs in a close game at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai to set up a rematch between the two sides in Sunday's final.

Australia had already qualified for the finale before yesterday's clash, while the West Indies were in a three-way hunt with England, the defending champions, and New Zealand for the second spot.

Given their poor record against their opponents, the West Indies were seen as outsiders to qualify, with the match between England and New Zealand, which was scheduled for after their game, expected to be a shoot-out to see who would go to the final.

But the West Indies rallied to ensure that the England versus New Zealand game was a dead rubber.

Merissa Aguillera, the West Indies captain, said in her post-match television interview: "Words cannot express what I am feeling right now. I am completely overwhelmed."

The West Indies victory was set up by Deandra Dottin, who smashed one six and 10 fours in her 67-ball 60 that lifted her side to a challenging total of 164 after at one stage they had been 86 for six.

They dismissed Australia for 156 in 48.2 overs, with the left-arm seamer Shanel Daley claiming three for 22 in 9.2 overs and the off-spinner Stafanie Taylor taking two for 26 as the Australians collapsed spectacularly. Alex Blackwell played a lone hand of 45.

Aguillera added: "Our bowlers did a fantastic job today.

"I felt some panic happening in their camp and I think that's the time we started to attack them more. We realised that as long as we were bowling in correct areas, we will get wickets and that's exactly what happened."

Jodie Fields, the Australia captain, said her side would learn from the setback ahead of Sunday's final. "We have to go away now and focus on training," she said.

"We are going to play them in the final. At least we got a chance to look at what they are doing in their game and hopefully it should help us in the final."

England's 15-run win over New Zealand proved to be merely a consolation and they will face the same opponents again tomorrow in the third-place play-off.

Meanwhile, South Africa registered their first win in the Super Sixes round when they beat Sri Lanka by 110 runs in Cuttack.

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