An 18 years old girl and a seasoned campaigner lead their team to a feat, that none was ever expected on this day, 4 years back. West Indies has always been known as the dark horse in the T20 format and for their unpredictable performances in T20 World Cups. 18 years old Hayley Matthews made the highest score of the World Cup Finals and guided her team to their first-ever World -T20 Victory defeating Australia by 8 wickets.
Australia has played 3 World Cup finals in their four appearances while winning all the finals. In jam-packed Eden Gardens, Meg Lanning won the toss and as expected decided to bat first. Their hard-hitting batter, Alysa Healy was caught by Hayley Mathews on her won bowling on 4 in 2nd over. However, two seasoned campaigners for Australia, Meg Lanning and Elyse Villani settled the Australian innings.
Both of them scored at a brisk pace and kept the scoreboard running. While Villani played more aggressively on her way to 52. She hit 9 boundaries in a knock that lasted 37 balls. On the other hand, Lanning who proceeded cautiously and played an innings of 52 of 49 balls. Duo added 77 runs in 10 overs. While, Perry’s 29 runs, during the fag end of the innings helped them to post the highest run in the T-20 World Cup Final till then. Diandra Dottin picked up 2 wickets for 33 runs.
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List of 5 Top scorers in World T20 Final till 2016
| Name | Run | Against | Year |
| Hayley Matthews (WI) | 66 | Australia | 2016 |
| Stafanie Taylor (WI) | 59 | Australia | 2016 |
| Elyse Villani (Aus) | 52 | West Indies | 2016 |
| Meg Lanning | 52 | West Indies | 2016 |
| Jess Duffin (ne Cameron) (Aus) | 45 | England | 2012 |
Chasing an uphill target, West Indies made cautious start while accumulating only 9 runs from first 3 overs. But the duo, scored 33 runs in next three, including from an over of Perry where they scored 13 runs. West Indies completed their 50 runs in just 7th over against a much superior bowling attack. Hayley Matthews were predominantly destructive throughout the innings.
She came down the track to hit one of the legends of cricket out of the park. Matthews went on hit a six and slapped a ball to four to complete her delightful half-century in the final. Taylor, on the other hand, supported her well and made 120 runs partnership in 94 balls. It was the highest partnership for the opening wicket in the World Cup. While Mathews got out after scoring 66 with a strike rate of 146, Taylor went on to complete her half-century as well. Later Dottin with her unbeaten 18 completed the formalities.
West Indies defeated Australia to break their winning streak to lift the ICC WorldT-20 trophy for the first time. Matthews made the highest score in the T-20 World Cup final and successfully lead her team to the highest successful run chase till now. This was West Indies first-ever victory over Australia in World T-20.
They have played 6 matches against each other, Australia winning the rest. Hayley Matthews was declared as the player of the match and Stafanie Taylor as the player of the Tournament.
