The West Indies, who made their maiden entry into the summit clash, will take on three-time defending champions Australia in Kolkata on April 3.
The West Indies held their nerve in the death overs to beat New Zealand by six runs and enter the final of the ICC women’s World T20, in Mumbai, on Thursday.
Chasing a target of 144, New Zealand appeared to be cruising along till they lost a clutch of wickets and were stopped at 137 for 8.
The West Indies, who made their maiden entry into the summit clash, will take on three-time defending champions Australia in Kolkata on April 3.
The Kiwis got off to a poor start, losing opener Rachel Priest on 11. Sophie Devene then hit four boundaries in a quick 22 off 14 deliveries before being brilliantly run-out by Diandra Dottin in the seventh over.
Skipper Suzie Bates (12 off 17 balls) was out in the same over, but Sara McGlashan (38 off 30 balls) and Amy Satterthwaite (24 runs off 29 balls) rallied the innings. However, but both departed off successive balls in the 17th over, paving the way for West Indies’ victory.
West Indies skipper Stafanie Taylor got both the wickets as. Under pressure, the batswomen tried to hit and were caught.
In the next over, Kate Perkins fell for 2 as the Kiwis kept on losing regular wickets.
For the West Indies, Taylor took three wickets, while Connell, Afy Fletcher and S Quintyne took one each.
Earlier, put in to bat, a half century by Britney Cooper, who cracked 61 off 48 balls, powered the West Indies to a decent 143 for six.
Opener Hayley Matthews scored a quick 16 off 14 balls, inclusive of two eloquent boundaries and provided the momentum to the team before getting out leg before wicket to Morna Nielsen.
Then skipper Taylor (25 off 26 balls) and Cooper, who walked in at number 3 stitched a 60-run stand for the second wicket.
Both the players rotated the strike well and put away the bad deliveries. They targeted the spinners as well as pacer Lea Tahuhu, who went for 21 in 2 overs.
Taylor, in an attempt to score quickly, was caught by Katie Perkins off Sophie Devene in the 11th over when the score was 78.
The West Indies were 50 in 8.1 overs and 100 in 15 overs, but scored just 43 runs in the last five overs as they lost quick wickets.
The New Zealand women were good in their field. Devene was the pick of the bowlers, taking four wickets and conceding just 22 runs in her four overs. Spinner M Nielsen also bowled decently, taking wicket for 14 runs.
Scorecard
West Indies:
K Matthews lbw b Nielsen 16
S Taylor c Perkins b Devine 25
B Cooper c Priest b Devine 61
D Dottin b Devine 20
S King c Satterthwaite b Devine 4
M Aguilleira not out 15
S Campbelle run out (Satterthwaite/Priest) 0
Extras: (W2) 2
Total: (for 6 wickets; 20 overs) 143
Fall of wickets: 1-18, 2-78, 3-122, 4-125, 5-140, 6-143.
Bowling: M Nielsen 4-0-14-1, L Tahuhu 2-0-21-0, L Kasperek 3-0-30-0, E Bermingham 3-0-24-0, S Devine 4-0-22-4, S Bates 2-0-21-0, A Satterthwaite 2-0-11-0.
New Zealand:
S Bates c Quintyne b Fletcher 12
R Priest b Connell 6
S Devine run out (Dottin) 22
S McGlashan c Campbelle b Taylor 38
A Satterthwaite c Campbelle b Taylor 24
K Martin not out 11
K Perkins c Dottin b Quintyne 2
L Kasperek st Aguilleira b Taylor 6
E Bermingham run out (Cooper/Aguilleira) 8
Extras: (LB 1, W 6, NB 1) 8
Total: ( for 8 wickets; 20 overs) 137
Fall of wickets: 1-11, 2-43, 3-49, 4-108, 5-108, 6-116, 7-125, 8-137.
Bowling: S Connell 3-0-22-1, D Dottin 4-0-29-0, H Matthews 2-0-18-0, A Fletcher 4-0-20-1, A Mohammed 1-0-10-0, S Taylor 4-0-26-3, S Quintyne 2-0-11-1.
