Mason and Doolan set up New Zealand win

Offspinners Aimee Mason and Lucy Doolan took three wickets apiece to help New Zealand defend their modest total against West Indies and secure their second victory of the World Cup. New Zealand's batsmen were restricted to 192 for 8 after Mason, standing in for the injured Haidee Tiffen, won the toss but the bowlers ensured that it was 56 runs too many for West Indies. New Zealand were also without opener Kate Pulford, who had a shoulder strain.

New Zealand's batting collapsed for the second match in a row. They had lost 7 for 34 at one stage in their tournament opener against Australia and today they were reduced to 104 for 6. Mason, who scored 38, and Sarah Tsukigawa combined in a 57-run stand for the seventh wicket which lifted New Zealand to a competitive total. Tsukigawa remained unbeaten on 41 off only 35 balls, with five fours and a six.

Player-of-the-match Tsukigawa said she had waited for the batting Powerplay. "I came out with a plan of setting myself till the 45th over and we knew we had the Powerplay to take in the last five overs," she said. "So it was important to get there and give ourselves a chance to launch from there with a couple of batters still left."

West Indies had struggled to chase a low total against South Africa, reaching the target of 117 only in the 49th over with just two wickets in hand. Although two of their top-order batsmen - Stafanie Taylor andPamela Lavine - got starts, the run-rate was extremely low and the innings was devoid of momentum. And after Mason got rid of both the set batsmen, the rest of the line-up failed to cope with the pressure. Mason finished with 3 for 26 and Doolan picked up three lower-order wickets at regular intervals to ensure West Indies did not recover.

Mason, who was standing in as captain for Haidee Tiffen, was pleased with her contribution to the win. "It's always good to lead from the front and I was quite happy with how it went today and obviously very good to get a win as well," she said.

"It wasn't one of our best performances and was a really hard-fought win. I think we deserved it and we showed the depth in our team, with our batting order and our bowlers doing a great job. The bowlers adapted to the pitch which was pretty slow and took a bit of turn."