April 3, 2016, was the day when West Indies defeated Australia to clinch their first-ever World Cup title. After the Aussies posted a total of 148/5 in 20 overs, Windies chased down the score at the loss of just 2 wickets and with 3 balls to spare, winning the game by 8 wickets. It surely was a thriller, no doubt in that!
West Indies were worth the praise because they had defeated the three-time champions Australia. To date, Australia has reached the finals 6 times, of which they won the championship five-time. So 2016 was the only time when they faced a setback as Stafanie Taylor led West Indies overpowered them.
Opener Elyse Villani and Skipper Meg Lanning were the top scorers for Australia, with both of them scoring 52 runs off 27 and 49 deliveries respectively. But West Indies openers Hayley Matthews and Taylor set a 100-run partnership by scoring 66 and 59 runs respectively, before losing their wickets.
Matthews and Taylor’s start to their innings had made it easy for them to win, but the fall of their wickets was a huge setback as they returned at a very crucial moment. The match was played till the last over and everyone’s heart was in their mouth. The enigmatic match came to an end with Hayley Matthews being named as the Player of the match and Stafanie Tayor being named as the Player of the series.
#OnThisDay 5 Years ago,
West Indies women defeated Australia to Win their Maiden T20 World Cup 2016. #T20WorldCup @windieswomen @windiescricket pic.twitter.com/tZiqHdo7Yx
— Female Cricket (@imfemalecricket) April 3, 2021
Let’s have a recap of what the two captains had to say-
Stafanie Taylor: “I’ve been waiting for this a long time and it has come at the right time. We didn’t get the start we wanted but the batting has done it for us. It was fantastic to know that the men were with us. Men’s captain Darren Sammy sent me a text this morning ‘Staf you are going to do it, you girls you are going to do it.”
Meg Lanning: “Full credit to the West Indies, they came out with the bat, and we did not quite get the result we wanted. We felt we were a little short, 160 would have been nice, but if we bowled well we would have defended. It was a really exciting, tough road into the World Cup and I am proud of the effort that everyone has put in.”
Apart from the amazing opening partnership, the West Indies women’s great comeback with the ball- especially Deandra Dottin’s brilliance in the death overs was one of the major reasons behind their successful victory.
The next world cup, which was supposed to be held in 2022, has been postponed to 2023 and will be scheduled between 9th to 26th February.
For more such latest news and updates around women’s cricket follow us on Twitter and Instagram.
I’m a Senior Masters student pursuing Journalism and Mass Communication. An all time Cricket enthusiast. I could never play the game but always loved watching it, and now writing about it!