West Indies women celebrate after beating Australia in the final at Eden Gardens on Sunday. (Source: AP)The DJ had turned on the Calypso. ‘Champions, champions’ blared out of the sound system. The West Indies women began the merry dance. Stafanie Taylor, Hayley Matthews and Deandra Dottin all celebrated joyously. The Caribbean women had earned every bit of it, after their convincing eight-wicket win over Australia in the women’s World T20 final. A world record 120-run opening partnership between Matthews and Taylor set up the chase, which became pretty facile in the end. It was West Indies’ maiden title, dethroning three-time defending champions. “When we wake up in the morning it’s going to be like is it real Trophy? I will ask myself is this real? When we touch down at the Caribbean, that’s when it’s going to hit you. A lot of people with cameras and you will realise that you have won the World Cup,” Taylor beamed.

The West Indies captain was named the Player of the Tournament for her 246 runs and eight wickets. But it was her younger team-mate who shone brighter at the Eden Gardens on Sunday. Matthews is just 18 years old who played for Hobart Hurricanes in the last season’s Women’s Big Bash League. At 103.17, she had one of the better strike-rates in the tournament. Today, it was imperative that she kept calm after a slow start. Only nine runs had been scored in the first three overs during West Indies’ chase. Also, a victory target of 149 had never been gunned down in the Women’s World T20 final before.

Matthews got out after a scintillating 66 off 45 balls. But Taylor carried on before she was dismissed in the penultimate over, making a steady 59 off 57 deliveries. Back to back fours from Dottin earlier in that over had titled the balance in her side’s favour. Australia seemed to have given up. A superb yorker from Perry, however, made Britney Cooper a little nervy. She went for an improbable single in the next delivery but a clear run out opportunity was missed, a couple conceded, and the ‘Champion’ dance begun at the West Indies dug-out.

“We never discussed the total. It was good to keep wickets in hand. We wanted to do that; stay there and bat through,” Taylor said. Young Matthews spoke about the future. “Hope our women’s cricket grows from here on.”

Earlier, Australia won the toss and decided to bat on a very good surface. Alyssa Healy, Ian Healy’s niece, perished in the second over. But the team had been going strong, thanks to a 77-run second wicket partnership between Elyse Villani and skipper Meg Lanning. The former was brilliant for his 37-ball 52, but once she was dismissed in the 12th over, Australia started to lose tempo. Lanning tried to wrest the initiative by hitting three consecutive fours off Dottin, but as she departed, completing her half-century, the team started to struggle. Only one run was scored in the final over and two wickets fell as Australia finished about 15 short of the par score. “We needed 160-plus to set us up. We were heading into that. For such a good batting side, it was disappointing not to finish (the game),” Lanning admitted.

Coach Matt Morgan was gracious in defeat.””I”s a great advertisement for wome”s cricket (that big total has been chased). (We) would like to have 160, but being honest, it was a pretty comfortable chase in the end. They batted exceptionally well””

Brief Scores: Australia women 148 for 5 in 20 overs (Meg Lanning 52, Elyse Villani 52; Deandra Dottin 2/33) lost to West Indies women: 149 for 2 in 19.3 overs (Hayley Matthews 66, Staphnie Taylor 59; Kristen Beams 1/27) by eight wickets