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The West Indies have defeated South Africa by two wickets with eight balls to spare in a hard-fought match. With this victory, West Indies has all but sealed a place in the Super Six stage as both the teams will have matches against Australia and New Zealand. By contrast, South Africa, if it finishes at the bottom of the table from Group A, will be left to play in the seventh/eighth-place play-off against the bottom-placed team from Group B on 14 March.
Seventeen-year-old Stafanie taylor stars
Seventeen-year-old Stafanie Taylor was the star for the West Indies when she recorded impressive figures of 8.2-2-17-4 as South Africa, which elected to bat first after winning the toss, was bowled out for 116 in 45.2 overs after losing its last seven wickets for 22 runs.
Only opener Alicia Smith offered any significant resistance while scoring 46 that came off 109 balls and included four fours. She was the fourth batter out at the score of 94 in the 38th over.
The West Indies, in its turn at the wicket, made hard work of that target before achieving victory with two wickets and eight balls to spare.
Shaky start for the West Indies
The West Indies made a shaky start when it lost both the openers at the score of 16 but recovered through a 45-run third-wicket stand between Shanel Daley (26) and Stacy-Ann King (13). However, Afy Fletcher (nine off 70 balls) and Cordel Jack (19 runs off 52 balls) batted slowly and almost snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.
West Indies captain Merissa Aguilleira was relieved and happy with the victory. “We are very happy and all the girls worked hard for this. We knew what we had to do and we came out and did it.
“We knew we could take our time (getting the runs), the girls didn't rush anything. Even though it took a long time at the end of the day we came away with the win.”
Player-of-the-match Stafanie Taylor said: “Yeah, I'm very pleased with my performance and happy with the win. We were very confident (in reaching the target), but while chasing small totals anything could happen.
“It was a pretty good wicket for batting, we would have liked to bat first but we came away with the win. There was a bit in it (the pitch) for the pace bowlers, the spinners didn't get much turn - I didn't get as much turn as I would have liked."
South African reaction
South Africa captain Sunette Loubser was disappointed with her team’s batting display. She said: “A little bit (disappointed) is not the word for it at the moment. We made a meal of the batting today. I think the bowlers did really well to almost defend that score. Our batting disappointed us a lot as we lost six wickets for 22 runs right at the end.
“No one’s to blame. It’s the whole team thing but we just need to score more runs to be able to defend it. The girls showed a lot of heart and passion to almost defend it like they did. They never gave up and I'm proud of that fact.”
Scores in brief:
At No 1 Sports Ground, Newcastle, South Africa 116 all out, 45.2 overs (Alicia Smith 46; Stafanie Taylor 4-17) West Indies 117-8, 48.4 overs (Shanel Daley 26)
* West Indies won by two wickets