Aussies expecting the unexpected in final

Alyssa Healy is expecting the unexpected from the West Indies in Sunday's Women's World T20 decider in Kolkata.

It's the first time the Windies have reached a World T20 final and they have never beaten the Commonwealth Bank Southern Stars in the 20-over format, but their reputation for being consistently inconsistent – much like their men's team – adds an element of the unknown to the match-up.

After a 43-run warm-up defeat to Australia, their tournament began with a tense four-run win over Pakistan, but they defeated India to reach the semi-finals before dumping tournament favourites New Zealand out of the competition.

"They're definitely the most unpredictable team in this competition and we saw that in the semi-final," Healy said on Friday.

"We had a funny feeling we might end up playing the West Indies.

"New Zealand were kind of due for a loss and the West Indies were due to do something unpredictable.

"They’re an unpredictable team and we’ll just put our plans in place and hopefully they come off on Sunday."

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The Windies boast some of the most dangerous T20 players in the women's game, including captain Stafanie Taylor and big-hitting allrounder Deandra Dottin, so the Southern Stars won't be taking their Caribbean rivals lightly.

"We’ll sit down tomorrow night, just before the game and have a look at their team and put some plans in place for them," Healy said.

"Obviously we played them in a warm-up game so we know a little bit about them and we’ve played them in a series not that long ago so we’ve done our homework previously, but we’ll sit down as a group tomorrow night and just have a refresher."

Australia are very familiar with four members of the Windies squad – Taylor, Dottin, Stacy-Ann King and Hayley Matthews – who all played in the Women's Big Bash League and Healy believes the inside knowledge will come in handy.

"I think it’s helped with most of the teams we’ve come up against.

"Obviously getting to know them a little bit more and understanding how they play the game in their own teams is pretty special, that we can tap into that resource.

"It does help and the West Indies (players) don’t tend to say too much either.

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"So having them in your team – Stefanie Taylor was in the Sydney Thunder and some of the girls have some good stuff on her, so fingers crossed it works."

Both teams have plenty of weapons at their disposal with both bat and ball, but on the world stage in front of a packed house at Eden Gardens, Sunday's final could well come down to which side is best able to thrive under pressure.

The Southern Stars, with their vast experience in World tournaments, may have the upper hand in that department.

West Indies, on the other hand, are playing in a World T20 final for the first time and have already had mixed results in close matches under pressure.

While captain Taylor strangled the Kiwi run-chase with three wickets in the 17th and 19th overs of their semi-final against New Zealand, a concern for the West Indies camp was their lack of calm under pressure, with a series of errors allowing the White Ferns to stay in the hunt until the final ball.

"I think (experience) does help," Healy said. "I'm not sure how but I think it does. I think it showed in our semi-final as well.

"That's lucky I guess that we have that experience, to have played in these big games.

"Hopefully that will hold us in good stead on Sunday."