The White Ferns are looking to build off their three victories in the group stage of the Women's T20 World Cup in the UAE, to overcome the West Indies and reach the final of the tournament for the first time since 2010.
The West Indies pulled off a stunning upset against England yesterday to earn a semifinal match-up against the Kiwi side.
White Ferns head coach Ben Sawyer said his team head into the match having gained momentum from their recent victories against Sri Lanka and Pakistan.
"We chased against Sri Lanka and set against Pakistan, and we've been working on doing both," said Sawyer.
"The most pleasing part is that it’s tested some of the younger players against some of the best teams in the world."
The White Ferns take on the West Indies in the semifinal of the T20 World Cup on Saturday. (Source: 1News)
Twenty-year-old Georgia Plimmer has performed valiantly so far, scoring 108 runs from four matches at the tournament, including a half-century knock against Sri Lanka.
Sawyer said Plimmer showed potential as a regular opener for the White Ferns and that's why they decided to keep giving her starts.
"We threw her in the deep end… she started opening the batting against England in England, so it was a pretty steep learning curve for her and it’s taken a bit of time, but there's only been five or six matches in T20 cricket that she’s had a real crack at this."
Coming into the tournament the White Ferns had lost 10 straight T20 matches, but have finally been able to find some joy during the T20 World Cup, earning three wins from four games.
"It’s been a tough little period, I think what was most satisfying was the India game." The White Ferns beat India by 58 runs in their opening match of the tournament.
“I understand the pressure and the noise from outside and that’s hard to deal with at times, but like I’ve said numerous times, we’re trying to set this team up for a long future and that's going to take a little bit of time.
"It means that people are having to learn on the job and we've just been lucky enough that it's come together at this World Cup. If it didn’t, I’m sure there would have been lots of noise about pressure on the team and on myself in particular, but I think we stuck to what we thought would work and I guess we’ve just been lucky enough that it has (worked) during this tournament."
World No. 2 England didn't make it out of the group stage of the tournament for the first time since 2010.
The final standings for Group B were decided on net run-rate, with the West Indies and South Africa having better totals compared to England.
"We did a lot of work today. Like most people, I was expecting England to get through."
England were the favourites to top the group and had they won against the West Indies, they would've faced the White Ferns in the semifinals instead.
That was a daunting prospect for the White Ferns, considering England's domination over the Kiwi side earlier this year when they earned a clean-sweep in the five-match T20 series at home.
Sawyer said his coaching team had to adjust their focus to study the unfamiliar West Indies batters and bowling attack.
"We’ve done a lot of work today in particular around their two openers, Hayley Matthews and Qiana Joseph."
Matthews hit 50 off 38 balls and Joseph scored 52 off 38 deliveries to help the West Indies to a score of 67-0 in the power-play, and put them in a favourable position to reach the semifinals.
Sawyer noted that a key aspect they of the two West Indies openers is that Joseph is left handed and Matthews is right handed.
"We haven’t seen a lot of her (Joseph), but we’ve played a lot against Matthews — some of the girls have played with and against her in franchise cricket — so we feel like we have a plan there."
The White Ferns haven't won the T20 World Cup, but were runners-up in 2009 and 2010.
"We want to get to the final. Everyone said they felt a sense of relief to make the semis, but this group really believe we can go all the way. Whether it’s against Australia or South Africa, we can prepare after this game and take it to whoever we come up against.
"We're not looking too far ahead but the number one goal is to bring the trophy home."
Women's T20 World Cup semifinals:
Friday, October 18: Australia v South Africa (3am)
Saturday, October 19: West Indies v New Zealand (3am)
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