West Indies 163 for 3 (Campbelle 90*, Matthews 48; Jess Kerr 2-17) beat New Zealand 162 for 6 (Halliday 40, Gaze 39; Alleyne 4-27) by seven wickets
Shemaine Campbelle’s stunning 90 not out led the West Indies to a statement seven-wicket win over New Zealand in Southampton.
The wicketkeeper-batter’s career best T20I score spearheaded a pursuit of 163, the second-highest successful run chase in ICC Women’s T20 World Cup history, which was completed with just one ball to spare.
Defending champions New Zealand, who had earlier been pegged back by Aaliyah Alleyne’s four wickets, were left to rue a string of dropped chances and missed stumpings as captain Amelia Kerr’s landmark 100th T20I appearance ended in defeat.
New Zealand were put in after losing the toss, but Isabella Gaze was quickly into her stride.
An audacious scoop over the wicketkeeper’s head in the second over set the tone and she dominated an opening partnership of 49 with Georgia Plimmer, who picked out Deandra Dottin at deep backward square leg from the penultimate ball of the powerplay.
Amelia Kerr’s milestone innings ended on just five when she chipped straight to Karishma Ramharack at mid-on off the bowling of Alleyne, with Gaze following suit in identical fashion two balls later.
From 56 for three, Sophie Devine and Brooke Halliday rebuilt with a stand of 45 before Devine was excellently caught by Jahzara Claxton running in from the deep.
Halliday kept the White Ferns on the front foot before she became Alleyne’s fourth scalp, though Maddy Green’s unbeaten 35 from 22 balls injected further late momentum as the West Indies were set 163 to win.
CAMPBELLE LEADS WINDIES HOME
The chase got off to a shaky start as a mix-up between Matthews, who had just struck consecutive boundaries, and her opening partner Qiana Joseph saw the latter run out in the second over.
Matthews survived a let-off in the next over, Izzy Sharp putting down a chance at deep backward square leg from the bowling of Rosemary Mair with the batter on nine.
Campbelle settled in alongside her skipper and the pair took the score to 69 for one at the halfway stage, the wicketkeeper-batter successfully reviewing when originally given out lbw to Amelia Kerr in the 10th over.
Both batters were dropped in the following over, which also saw Matthews hit an imperious six over extra cover, but the skipper’s lives ran out on 48 when Green held on to a routine chance at long-on from the bowling of Jess Kerr.
Campbelle became the aggressor, clearing the ropes twice in the same Amelia Kerr over to bring up her maiden T20I half century.
She kicked on brilliantly from there, despite losing the company of Dottin, to leave four needed from the final over.
That became one from two balls, with 20-year-old Claxton on strike, and the pair scrambled through for a leg-bye to start the celebrations.
Campbelle finished with seven fours and three sixes in her sparkling 62-ball knock, which will go down in Caribbean cricket folklore.