icc women world cup news West Indies beat England

You'd seldom get a fist-knock from the captain as a set player dismissed, but Hayley Matthews knew this knock from Qiana Joseph deserved each praise and then some more. With an attacking 52 upfront to set the tone for West Indies' authoritative chase of England's 141/7 in a winners-take-all last Gathering B game in Dubai, Joseph had done more than whatever her captain, and team, asked of. And in the process, sent a shell-shocked England crashing out of the T20 World Cup 2024 to end a six-year dry season.

The last time West Indies beat England in the shortest organization was way, thinking back to the 2018 home World Cup where Matthews didn't contribute in excess of a solitary rush to the chase and Joseph was a teen carrying drinks in one of her initial assignments with the then defending champions. Despite having persevered through 13 consecutive defeats since, West Indies came into the contest with belief and battle. The belief was reflected in Joseph's readiness to start off the chase despite the fact that Mathews, presently her captain, thought there was something off at the midway imprint.

England's recuperation through the consistently solid Nat Sciver-Brunt's 50 years meant West Indies were staring at a record chase this World Cup edition to progress to the semis. But Joseph assured her captain in the changeroom, before walking out to open with her, that she's "just prepared". When Mattews ominously short-arm jabbed the draw briefly ball of the chase, in a 14-run opening over off Lauren Bell, England took notice. What hit them unexpectedly however was a youthful Joseph's audacity at the flip side, forewarning that West Indies meant business. England perhaps never recuperated from the shock.

Through the first-three years at the highest level, Joseph's chances had been few and far between. In her eight T20I innings prior to the Tuesday's heroics, the allrounder had gone from starting out as a lower-request slogger - albeit without much success - to being West Indies' newest opening option in Karachi recently in the 4-1 series win. Upon seeing checked improvement in her power-hitting abilities, Joseph arose as an optimal floater option in the line-up and was first sent as one in the 2-1 series win in Sri Lanka. Joseph had formed herself into the job before the opening opportunity presented itself in the World Cup opener against South Africa two weeks prior. However, the 14-ball struggle for just four runs was not really the way that West Indies trusted it'd go.

"The first game was most likely quite tough on her. And we let her right fall down the request, deciding to use her as a floater by then. In the event that we lost the wicket in the first few overs, let her go to have a go in the power play. We most likely then didn't require it against Scotland or Bangladesh, but look, she's a warrior and she wants to do whatever the team needs. She's always up to do whatever the team needs. So, we could tell her, open the batting, we could tell her bat at five. She'll do what the team needs and just be up for the battle each and every time.

"It's perfect to have characters like that within the dressing room, especially as a West Indies-based team who are presumably always underdogs. We really want fighters within the team. And she's an extraordinary illustration of that."

Joseph slid once more into the floater's job the following two or three games, but with senior opener Stafanie Taylor missing out against England through injury, Joseph was handed a promotion she showed she was so prepared for.

In her 38-ball 52, Joseph showcased both the inherent Caribbean pizazz and battle. It was a streaky start that saw the inside-edge go by crevasse and into the vacant third man region for Joseph to get off the imprint with a four. One conveyance later, Sophia Dunkley made a hash of a reverse-cup get that allowed for another limit. Two times in her knock the ball similarly burst through Maia Bouchier's hands resulting in freebies. Put under tension right on time by a blazing start, Sciver-Brunt - standing-in for injured Heather Knight - summoned her spinners early, who continued to toss it outside off and the hitter continued hacking everything across the line.

Joseph swung her bat liberally all through her stay and, with karma shining on her tonight, continued to connect most of the times to put on West Indies' best PowerPlay score of the tournament - 67/0 - as she matched Matthews shot for shot. Once the field spread out, the recurrence of boundaries thinned out but the left-hander easily went on to outscore her accomplice to a 34-ball fifty in the eleventh over and raised a 68-ball century stand to totally knock the wind out of the English sails.

Sciver-Brunt stopped the fireworks - about six fours and two slogged over the ropes for greatest - but Joseph had done her part in providing West Indies the solid base to cushion the blow of speedy wickets. The opener scored 18 off the 13 balls off the pacers, but really gouged the resolve of the spin assault by taking Charle Dean to the cleaners. In what could have been otherwise a risky coordinate for the left-hander, Joseph smacked 15 runs off the six balls she looked from the offspinner, at a strike-pace of 250.

Supported several times by England's generosity, she stunted their vaunted assault into submission as West Indies closed out the chase with two overs to spare to secure semifinal berth as gathering toppers.

"Over the course of the past little while, her ball-striking abilities just improved massively, and kudos to the coaches, they were the ones that kind of perceived the manner in which she could hit the ball and chose to offer her chance up the request a bit," Matthews said after West Indies booked their semifinal berth against New Zealand. "She opened a few games when we played in Pakistan before in the year and we were kind of using her as a pinch hitter at number three in our Sri Lanka series as well. So, I think that all those things are stuff that you kind of think back on now and notice that this is a long run coming into a World Cup. It doesn't only start when you arrive. It's all the little things you do when you evaluate prior to the World Cup that comes in and works.

"I am so pleased with her and just the manner in which she went about it and taking it to the English assault is something that is exceptionally hard for many individuals... that was just unbelievable," added the captain who herself as a young person scripted West Indies' lady T20 World Cup win, similarly sneaking up on the opposition when Australia least anticipated.

Despite showing the way toward the start of a daunting chase, Matthews said it was Joseph's confidence that rubbed off on her as well and manifested into what is presently her lady fifty against England.

"Definitely, I think going out we likely didn't imagine getting 60 [67/0] off the first-six. But for me personally from the first ball I confronted, I kind of noticed it was sliding on and I kind of took a liking to that. Qiana essentially just has one job - to get us off to a great start. She has amazing hand-eye coordination that when you do come in her half on a decent wicket, she is a really dangerous player.

"My job likely wasn't to be as aggressive as I was. I just found that I liked what was on at that point and my adrenaline got moving and I kind of kept the pressure on, but I think it does get easier when you have someone at the flip side who's going as well. So, how I was ready to bat has massive kudos to her as well and how she was ready to play too," she added.

As West Indies bookended their gathering stages in Dubai, incidentally on exactly the same pitch, Joseph made up for herself with a knock for the ages that will easily slot among the finest in their T20I history. Who can say for sure, there could be another section of her nascent story waiting to be written on Sunday in Dubai, via Sharjah.