West Indies cricket star Deandra Dottin was at the centre of frightening scenes when she collapsed before her side’s T20 World Cup semi-final against Australia.
Dottin’s teammates had to carry her off the field before the first ball was bowled on Tuesday night, Australian time.
She left the medical room behind the stands in a wheelchair after collapsing between the national anthems.
Although Dottin was eventually able to take to the pitch and produce a respectable 26 runs off 16 deliveries, her side fell short, sending the Aussies through to the final.
‘It was a bit scary. She’s a massive fighter and someone you never see go down,’ West Indies captain Hayley Matthews said.
‘A bit of a medical emergency, but it shows how much of a fighter she is that she came back out and threw a few punches at the Aussies.’
Deandra Dottin (pictured middle) was carried off the ground before her side’s T20 World Cup semi-final against Australia
Dottin (pictured) then returned to the match and scored 26 runs despite being seen in a wheelchair after the scary incident
The batter (pictured right) went above and beyond for her side, but couldn’t stop the Windies losing by eight wickets
Australia captain Sophie Molineux hailed her team’s ‘clinical’ batters Beth Mooney and Ash Gardner for starring in the win at The Oval.
Molineux also played down fears over star Ellyse Perry, who went off with quad tightness while batting.
She is expected to be fit for Sunday’s (Monday 0030 AEST) final at Lord’s against England or South Africa.
Mooney hit 61 and Gardner made 35, both unbeaten, in Tuesday’s last-four clash as Australia cantered to an eight-wicket victory.
Player of the match Gardner had earlier helped dismantle West Indies with two wickets in an over.
Georgia Wareham (2-17) and Molineux (2-30) helped restrict West Indies to 7-125. Australia then sped to victory in 13 overs.
‘We’ve stopped ourselves thinking too far ahead, but now we can think about the final which is pretty cool,’ Molineux said.
‘I thought we bowled really well. We held our nerve and then we wanted to get it done as quickly as possible, and Moons and Ash were clinical.’
Pictured: Australia’s Ashleigh Gardner (facing camer) and Beth Mooney celebrate the eight-wicket win that has sent them through to the final
She also eased concerns over Perry.
‘Just some quad awareness but it sounds like she’ll be more than OK to go on Sunday,’ she said.
West Indies, put in to bat, made slow progress although they survived until the ninth over.
The introduction of Wareham brought the breakthrough, the prized wicket of Hayley Matthews, gone for 30.
The Aussies were soon turning the screws, Stafanie Taylor departing for a duck after a tame leading edge went straight to Kim Garth.
Gardner then took her second wicket in the same over, sending back a scoreless Jahzara Claxton.
Dottin produced a few fireworks in the final stages but overall the West Indies innings had been something of a damp squib.
That was never likely to be the case with the rampant Aussies, who had won all five group matches on their way to the last-four.
Despite the losses of Georgia Voll (16), bowled, and Phoebe Litchfield (4), trapped lbw, the outcome looked less in doubt with each passing ball.
Perry retired hurt at the end of the eighth over, Gardner replacing her in the middle and immediately driving Aaliyah Alleyne through the covers.
The imperious Mooney and the hard-hitting Gardner completed the job, with Mooney bringing up her fifty in 29 balls, her third-fastest international T20 half-century.