By MATTHEW BALMER

The West Indies women’s cricket team created history overnight by defeating the favoured Southern Stars to secure their maiden women’s Twenty20 World Cup crown.

Opening bat Hayley Matthews, 18, set the pitch alight with a powerful 66 runs from 45 balls to help guide the Windies to their first win against the Australian side in nine attempts.

Matthews blasted the Southern Stars bowlers to all parts of the ground with six fours and three sixes on her way to the highest individual batting total seen in a WT20 World Cup final.

She is also the youngest player to take part in a World Cup Final and was deservedly crowned Player of the Match with her 50 - the fastest of the tournament.

No woman had scored a half-century in four previous WT20 finals, however the 2016 instalment brought about two 50s from both teams.

After Australia set the highest women’s T20 World Cup final score of 148, West Indies openers Stafanie Taylor and Matthews faced the mammoth task of scoring at just under 7.5 runs an over if the Windies were to secure their first title.

In pursuit of a fourpeat of T20 World Cup wins, Australia began well after bowling 14 dot balls in the opening three overs to immediately put the West Indies on the back foot.

However, Matthews had other ideas in her first burst of aggression where she found the boundary twice in the fourth over. The West Indies’ assault was thus set into motion as  Australia’s last two overs of the bowling power play conceded 26 runs.

The result seemed all but assured for the West Indies when both openers brought up their 50s, but a "half tracker" from Australian leg spinner Kristen Beams gave the Stars their first wicket in the form of the dangerous Matthews.

Rene Farrell claimed Taylor’s wicket – who was later announced as Player of the Tournament – and the match went into the final over with the West Indies requiring three runs to win, a feat they managed to complete with three balls to spare.

West Indian captain Stafanie Taylor was extremely pleased with the win post-match.

“I’ve been waiting for this a long time and it has come at the right time,” Taylor said.

“We did have players that could do it…we [just needed] consistency and that’s what we try to implement and tell the girls we need to do that to compete with teams like England and Australia.

“When we touch down in the Carribean, I think that’s when it’s really going to hit [us] because I know we’re going to have a lot of people there – cameras and everything – so that’s when we’re going to realise [we’ve] won a World Cup.”

Earlier, Australian opener Elyse Villani powered the Southern Stars to a strong start, top scoring with 52 runs from 37 balls as she combined with captain Meg Lanning for a 77-run partnership for the second wicket.

The West Indies tried valiantly to stem the flow of runs, using seven bowlers in the first 11 overs but Lanning continued her strong form into the final, scoring 52 runs to end as the third leading run-scorer for the tournament behind England captain Charlotte Edwards and the Windies’ Taylor.

Australian all-rounder Ellyse Perry cleared the rope twice with a cameo of 28 runs striking at 120.00. However, the final over bowled by Deandra Dottin only conceded one run in what turned out to be a pivotal moment in the game.

Post-match, Australian captain Meg Lanning praised the effort of the West Indian team.

“Full credit to the West Indies they came out with the bat, we did not quite get the result we wanted. We felt we were a little short, 160 would have been nice.” Lanning said.

“Everyone’s catching up and going past, and we need to keep on improving to stay on top. There’s no doubt the teams are getting better, the West Indies are a great example of that and even throughout the tournament the standard’s been really good – there’s no easy games in women’s cricket anymore.”

The excellent partnership at the top of the West Indies innings ensured they would be proclaimed as world champions for the first time in the side’s history.

Post-match, the West Indies women’s team joined their victorious male counterparts in a celebratory dance in the middle of the ground, fittingly with men’s West Indies cricketer Dwayne Bravo’s hit song Champion played in the background.

MATCH SUMMARY
Women’s World T20 Final, Eden Gardens, Kolkata
Australia 5/148 (20 overs): Lanning 52, Villani 52, Perry 28; Dottin 2/33
West Indies 2/149 (19.3 overs): Matthews 66, Taylor 59; Beams 1/27

Player of the match: Hayley Matthews (West Indies)
Player of the series: Stafanie Taylor (West Indies)
Umpires: Aleem Dar (Pakistan) & Richard Illingworth (England)