Everyone is catching up to Aust: Lanning

It was a gutting loss for Australia but a win for women's cricket on Sunday, when West Indies showcased their development in the World Twenty20 final.

Australia faced England in the previous two women's World T20 deciders.

The expectation was the Southern Stars would cruise past the rising Caribbean force, contesting their first ever World T20 final.

Instead Australia were "outplayed" in the words of skipper Meg Lanning, losing a gripping contest by eight wickets at Kolkata's Eden Gardens.

The tournament was tight from the outset and full of twists.

New Zealand were short-priced favourites to win their semi against West Indies but lost.

West Indies only advanced to the knock-out phase after a thrilling victory over India in their final pool game.

"We've spoken about it a lot, that everyone is sort of catching up and going past I guess," Lanning said.

"We need to keep improving to make sure we stay on top.

"There's no doubt the teams are getting better, the West Indies are a great example of that.

"Throughout the whole tournament, the standard has been really good."

Lanning added there were no more "easy games" in women's cricket now.

"If you're not on, not 100 per cent, you're not going to win. We certainly found that out at this tournament," she said.

"The skill level is really increasing (in women's cricket) .. the way the game was played tonight was certainly an example of that."

Australia coach Matthew Mott described the decider, during which West Indies hauled in their target of 149 with three balls remaining, as a great advertisement for women's cricket.

"They batted exceptionally well," Mott said.

"I know this group is going to be really strong for a long time and it's great that other teams are challenging Australia.

"Any team could have won this tournament."

West Indies took home $100,000 for winning the women's World T20, while the men earned $1.6 million after knocking off England in their final.

West Indies skipper Stafanie Taylor hoped the high standard of the event would lead to an increase in prize money.

"We hope that that does happen ... you could ask them (the International Cricket Council) then get back to me," Taylor smirked.

Taylor was upbeat she would be given the chance to play Test cricket soon, something West Indies haven't done since 2004.

"That's one of my dreams .. definitely it'd help some of the girls," the captain said.