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For 2016 champions West Indies, it was a case of so near yet so far. Their coach Shane Deitz said his team “lived and died by the sword” in their heartbreaking eight-run loss to New Zealand in the T20 Women’s World Cup semi-final on Friday night.
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Star all-rounder Deandra Dottin, nicknamed World Boss, appeared to be swinging the game in West Indies’ favour when she slammed the lanky Lea Tahuhu for three sixes over the mid-wicket boundary in the 16th over. But that joy was short-lived as the turning point came in the very next over when Dottin top-edged an Amelia Kerr delivery to short fine-leg, caught by Fran Jonas. That virtually sealed the fate of the match.
When mid-day asked coach Deitz at the post-match press conference, what Dottin needed to do differently when a spinner (Kerr) was brought back into the attack, he said: “Deandra was taking control of the game and it really looked like she was going to bring it home. She probably needed to get through that [Kerr] over. Deandra got a ball she would normally hit for four… but then, you live by the sword and die by the sword. We were trying to win the game and the margins were fine.”
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