Women's CWC: Stefanie Taylor blames dropped catches for loss against Aus in semi-final

Sydney: West Indies skipper Stefanie Taylor expressed disappointment after her side got thrashed by Australia in the semi-final of the ongoing ICC Women's ODI World Cup.

A brilliant century from Alyssa Healy and an outstanding cameo from Rachael Haynes helped Australia defeat West Indies in the semi-finals by 158-run in the ongoing ICC Women's Cricket World Cup 2022 here at the Basin Reserve on Wednesday.

"When you look at it, it's that partnership that deflated the whole team, that's what the Australians did well. They absorbed the pressure and then they upped the ante, I find out that we couldn't get over that and the amount of drop catches never helped us in the field.

To chase that total you have to be positive, we needed someone from the top four to be positive and we just never had that.

Deandra tried and I guess we needed a burst like against India or something like that to get that momentum going towards the end," said Stefanie Taylor in a post-match presentation. "When you have Rashada who is a stroke player and Deandra hits the ball hard and we find that both of them compliment well each other and with me and Hayley next if both of us are, we can get the team over.

It was really hard but we were actually looking to get something from the game, at least get to 200. For me, personally just a bit disappointed with my performance especially with the bat earlier I was carrying a niggle with my bowling and it was a bit hard for me personally," she added.

Healy smashed 129 from 107 balls and Haynes scored 85 from 100 deliveries put on 216 runs for the opening wicket to help Australia amass 305/3 in a rain-curtailed match, which was reduced to 45 overs. Chasing 306, batters Stafanie Taylor 48 and Shemaine Campbelle 8 hoped to overhaul Australia's score.

Skipper Stafanie Taylor (48) played a lone hand in the run chase for West Indies and Deandra Dottin and Hayley Matthews both managed 34 runs at the top of the order, but they received little support with two batters unable to take the crease as Australia cruised home.

Australia will now be facing the winner of the second semi-final, which will be played between England and South Africa on Thursday.