Australia thrash Windies to reach World T20 final

Australia dethroned the West Indies and booked a place in Saturday's Women's World Twenty20 final with a crushing 71-run victory in the first semi-final on Thursday at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua on Thursday.

Stunned by the Caribbean side in the 2016 final in Kolkata, the three-time champions were at their most ruthless to the dismay of a huge home crowd as they reached 142 for five batting first on a turgid pitch and then routed the West Indies for just 71 off 17.3 overs.

Australia will face the winner of the second semi-final between England and India, being played later on Thursday, in Saturday's championship match at the same venue.

Put in to bat on a pitch where the experienced three-time former champions found free scoring difficult, the Aussies were indebted again to the prolific Alyssa Healy, the opening batter top-scoring with 46 to earn her fourth 'Player of the Match' award in five games so far in this tournament.

"It was really tricky out there given the fluffiness of the pitch," was her post-match assessment of the conditions. "I felt that once we got past 120 our bowlers would have had a good chance of defending that total."