Windies win good news for Ferns

The West Indies celebrate after defeating England in their group game in the T20 World Cup in Dubai yesterday. PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES

There has been a late change of plan.

The White Ferns will play the West Indies in the semifinals of the T20 World Cup in the UAE.

England are out.

Let’s repeat that: England are out.

That is good news for the White Ferns. England have beaten them in nine of the 10 T20s they have played this year.

The West Indies will not present the same psychological barrier.

White Ferns great Suzie Bates spoke to media before the West Indies stunned England. No doubt that result will have buoyed the camp.

But Bates’ comments suggest some quiet confidence no matter whom they were to play.

"We were really excited about the performances in the pool stage but to have an opportunity in a semifinal, now it's about preparing the best we can to play one of our best matches of the tournament," she said.

This could be the last opportunity for the 37-year-old opener to get her hands on a major trophy.

She made her debut for the White Ferns in 2006 and has enjoyed an incredible international career.

Bates is the White Ferns’ leading scorer in both the T20 (4526 runs) and ODI (5718) formats and she is determined to help her side get past the semifinals and into the final.

"Yeah, so determined. Having not had that chance in eight years, I know there's a lot of determined players and it is nice to have a couple of days to prepare just so we can get our heads around playing back at Sharjah and seeing tonight who we're going to play against."

That will be the West Indies.

England had cruised through the round robin with three relatively stress-free wins, including a seven-wicket win over South Africa, who will play the all-conquering Australian side in the other semifinal.

But they were upset by the West Indies in their last game.

England posted 141 for seven before Windies openers Hayley Matthews (50 off 38 balls) and Qiana Joseph (52 off 38) put on 102 from 12.2 overs to set up a comfortable six-wicket win with two overs to spare.

The West Indies, South Africa and England all finished the round robin with three wins from four games. But England dropped out courtesy of having the lowest net run rate.

The White Ferns had strung together a disappointing run of 10 consecutive losses in the format leading into the World Cup.

All those losses were against either Australia or England, so their form was not perhaps as poor as the results suggested.

Rightly or wrongly, to get through to the semifinals is being heralded as a big achievement for the group.

"I think that first game against India highlighted the need for, you know, 11 players to step up, and Georgia [Plimmer] with the bat has been brilliant all tournament," Bates said.

"It's a big reason why we've progressed.

"The spinners have been outstanding. Sophie's [Devine] led really well and the seamers have played their part in conditions that don't always suit them, so that's always what it's going to take to win tournaments. It's been a real team effort.

"I probably haven't felt the 12 months has been tough. It's been about building for this and I think Ben [Sawyer, White Ferns coach] has been brilliant in terms of taking each game as it comes and about the brand we want to play for this pinnacle event.

"He's stuck to his guns and he's backed everyone in the group to fill that role and do their job, so a lot of credit has to go to him."