Cricket: White Ferns power towards semis

New Zealand, propelled by a powerful 39 ball 60 from Suzie Bates, made it two victories from two games with a comfortable 52-run victory over West Indies in the women's world cup cricket Twenty20 tournament in England overnight.

Bates, a New Zealand basketball representative at the Beijing Olympics, bludgeoned West Indies into submission as New Zealand powered towards the semifinals.

Her 60, out of a total of 158-6, included 11 fours as New Zealand cruised home by 52 runs. Fellow opener Lucy Doolan hit 41 and later took 3-16 with her offspin.

New Zealand crushed highly fancied Australia by nine wickets in its opening Group A game.

After their brilliant opening, 94 without loss in the 10th over, the White Ferns appeared on track to post a record but lost their way as they dropped six wickets for 62 runs.

"There was good and bad," New Zealand coach Gary Stead said.

"We made a great start and we started thinking about getting to 200 for the first time - perhaps we got ahead of ourselves. The disappointing thing was that some of our batters started slogging a bit when we didn't need to."

Stead applauded the contributions of spin bowlers Doolan and Aimee Watkins who got through eight overs for 28.

"They were outstanding."

Only a series of freak results will stop New Zealand reaching the semis

Their final game is against South Africa on Tuesday.

West Indies looks set to battle it out for the second semifinal spot from Group A against Australia tomorrow.

West Indies' reply began promisingly before four wickets tumbled for 13 runs to make it 45-4, all but settling the game. Big-hitting Deandra Dottin and Stacy-Ann King both fell for golden ducks.

Leg spinner Priyanka Roy, meanwhile, took the first five-wicket haul of the tournament as India struggled to get back on track with a five-wicket win over Pakistan in Group B.

- NZPA