ICC Women's World Twenty20, St Kitts:
West Indies 122-8 (20 ovs) beat England 120-9 (20 ovs) by two runs
Match scorecard

The West Indies team celebrate a win which puts them into the semi-finals

England's defence of the women's ICC World Twenty20 title is over after a second loss in the competition.

England looked well set to overhaul West Indies' 122-8 in St Kitts as they moved to 65-0 after nine overs.

But Charlotte Edwards and Sarah Taylor fell off successive deliveries, sparking a disastrous collapse to 91-7.

A six from Lydia Greenway late on gave them hope, but she lost the strike midway through the last over, England finishing agonisingly short on 120-9.

In their first group match, England had tied with Australia - but the match was decided by a one-over eliminator. That also finished in a tie and the Aussies were awarded the win having hit more sixes than their opponents.

That meant England had to beat West Indies to stay alive in the competition, but after restricting the hosts to 62-4 in the 13th over they saw the Windies middle order make better headway.

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Nevertheless, with off-spinner Laura Marsh (3-17) showing good form, England appeared in decent shape at the halfway point.

And as 20-year-old wicketkeeper Taylor moved to 33 after nine overs, with skipper Edwards keeping her company on 31, things looked even rosier.

However, both fell to the spin of Anisa Mohamed, and there were two more wickets in the subsequent over bowled by Deandra Dottin.

Once the usually reliable Claire Taylor had also fallen cheaply England were suddenly in deep trouble, and when it came down to the last ball Katherine Brunt was run out as she desperately tried to turn a single into a three.

England captain Charlotte Edwards was disappointed with her side's performance in the tournament and believed a lot of hard work was needed before the side takes on New Zealand this summer in England.

England skipper Edwards reflects on another disappointing result

"The middle-order didn't compose itself well enough. The batters didn't take their time and just hit the ball around.," she said.

"A lot of credit has to go to the West Indies as I thought they bowled really well in periods and some loose shots means the pressure builds up in Twenty20 and time runs out in the end.

"We're bitterly disappointed. I've got a very sad changing room down there but we're going to have to pick ourselves up, go back home and work really hard ahead of the series against New Zealand."

Coach Mark Lane said England had played some "brilliant cricket" over the past two years and described their results in the Caribbean as a "stumbling block".

He added: "The standard of women's cricket has really kicked on over the last 12 months."

Australia booked their place in the semi-finals with a 24-run win over South Africa earlier in the day.

They were bowled out for 155 after being put in by Cri-Zelda Brits, thanks mainly to Shelley Nitschke (44 off 32 balls), Leah Poulton (39 off 25, including two sixes) and Jessica Cameron (27 off 18).

South Africa made a solid start in reply but could not maintain the run-rate despite an unbeaten 53 off 51 balls by Mignon du Preez and Nitschke took 2-21 with her left-arm spin to help restrict them to 131-7.

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