South Africa Women vs New Zealand Women
New Zealand claimed their inaugural Women’s T20 World Cup championship after an exciting 32-run victory against South Africa, led by Melie Kerr’s outstanding performance, supported by Brooke Halliday and Fran Jonas’ impressive bowling.
Kerr is in a lively spirit and is delighted to chat about it all with fans and press. She pays her tributes to Georgia Plimmer who batted with great maturity; something which means so much to their team. South Africa Women vs New Zealand Women has been a thrilling match, with performances like these making it unforgettable.
South Africa: Suzie Bates (C), Sophie Devine (WK), Laura Wolvaardt (WK), Marizanne Kapp (WK), Lea Tahuhu (WK), Rosemary Mair (WK)
Today marks the final of the Women’s T20 World Cup at Dubai International Stadium, with South Africa facing New Zealand and both teams expected to field their best available teams – promising an exhilarating and riveting encounter!
The South Africans defeated Australia in their semifinal match and now possess the talent and experience needed to advance further than last year’s semi-final finish. Currently second in tournament standings behind India by one point, victory would place them into top two and qualify them for semi-final playoffs.
New Zealand are hoping to win their inaugural ICC trophy. After losing to Australia in 2023 in their previous final, New Zealand hope to make history against South Africa in order to claim victory and take home their trophy for themselves.
Bates kicked off her final well, hitting her opening ball for a boundary down leg side before edged another one to backward point fence for four. Devine bowled well in her over, conceding only three singles before Carson took over and made one single off each first two balls to leave New Zealand needing 58 off 24 balls now.
Halliday plays her shots well, but is unable to find the gap on the off side this time and her ball travels towards long on. Attempting a reverse sweep, her hands could not quite catch it and the ball falls short of fielder. In an attempted slog sweep attempt she misses but the umpire does not accept her appeal so the DRS decision stands.
Carson adds some singles before being replaced by Khaka. Kerr and Tryon make use of defensive moves to pick up runs as they attempt to keep their scores moving forward.
Kapp takes an aggressive stance and smashes her delivery over the long on fence for six, marking New Zealand’s 100 in 15 overs. Shortly afterwards she hit another straighter delivery to leg side boundary for four as part of an onslaught on England.
New Zealand are closing quickly in on their target, needing only two overs more to reach it. Kapp looked set to clear the ropes again with his straighter delivery but it fell just short and went into midwicket fielder’s hands instead. Anthems will shortly begin and fans will proudly stand for New Zealand. What an incredible day it has been! New Zealand are T20 World Cup champions! Players and crowd alike were overjoyed; an amazing sight! They truly deserved this victory.
New Zealand: Brooke Halliday (C), Fran Jonas (WK), Leigh Kasperek (WK), Amelia Kerr (WK), Tazmin Brits (WK), Annerie Dercksen (WK)
At the last World Cup meeting between South Africa and New Zealand, South Africa came out victorious by an overwhelming margin. Since then, New Zealand have gone on to win three out of the eight tournaments they entered including an unblemished record during this year’s campaign – however no guarantees can be given they’ll repeat past success here.
New Zealand have taken down some of the finest teams around to reach this point and will be keen to add to their impressive trophies haul. In particular, they will look forward to winning their inaugural T20 World Cup and will face an in-form South Africa side who have already claimed four out of five matches at Dubai International Stadium.
New Zealand captain Sophie Devine and vice-captain Brooke Halliday will both play an instrumental role in this match for New Zealand. Both have played incredible cricket so far this tournament, especially Halliday who excelled with both bat and ball in their semifinal match-up against Australia. Halliday can easily score big runs while Devine looks to make amends for her disappointment in semi-final by trying for her second World Cup crown.
After an initially slow start, the Black Caps eventually found their rhythm and reached 47-0 after six overs. Unfortunately, however, they then suffered several wickets including all-rounder Marizanne Kapp and several members of their batting order were unable to keep pace with the run rate due to pressure exerted by Kiwi bowlers; only Anneke Bosch, Tazmin Brits and Sune Luus reached double figures.
Ayabonga Khaka will bowl the final over, starting off by sending her first delivery straight into short third fielder’s grasp before conceding a single and leaving New Zealand needing 14 runs from Ayabonga in their final over.
Carson will bowl the final over. While conceding two singles early on, her next two deliveries hit their target and race to the boundary bringing New Zealand one step closer to victory.
New Zealand are champions of the 2024 Women’s T20 World Cup! Devine and Kerr shed tears of joy upon lifting the trophy together as tears stream down their cheeks in celebration.
New Zealand’s victory ensured the competition would have a different name on its trophy for the first time since 2016. Australia has long dominated this tournament, making other sides less likely to emerge victorious; but Black Caps were determined to end Australia’s dominance and made their case during their semifinal victory against Australia. Now they will look forward to defending their crown again in 2022 while hoping to inspire young kiwis of tomorrow with an exceptional squad – one they look set to lead into future contests.
Final score
South Africa captain Laura Wolvaardt struck an excellent 33 at the top of her order to turn around a tight match against New Zealand and reach 47-0 by the eighth over. However, New Zealand’s spin trio of Anneke Bosch, Nadine de Klerk and Sune Luus then began taking wickets to keep pace with required run rate requirements, leaving South African batsmen struggling.
South Africa entered the final over needing 38 runs to win, and were batted out by Ayabonga Khaka and Nonkululeko Mlaba – Ayabonga Khaka and Nonkululeko Mlaba being their last two batsmen on the field before Eden Carson delivered her final over, the opening ball being wide-flighted and missed by Maddy Green at long-on before an easy single eases home pressure somewhat.
Plimmer hit it straight down the ground for four, expanding her run total further in this tournament. Ayabonga Khaka also got her bat out quickly to smash another boundary ball to midwicket; taking her total run-scoring to 22 runs scored so far!
New Zealand have made it to the break on 59-1 after an outstanding performance from their White Ferns side in their inaugural World Cup Final appearance. From initial jitters, they rallied through middle order play before keeping up the momentum during powerplay overs. Amelia Kerr took three wickets while Brooke Halliday also provided good bowling control.
South Africa may have given their all, but despite all their hard work they had to settle for second place once again despite all of their best efforts. Out there now shaking hands and hugging one another as tears flow freely – New Zealand are World Champions!
New Zealand players lift the trophy as team-mates and supporters celebrate with tears of joy and relief as the women of New Zealand were not even expected to win this tournament at its start, but have made for wonderful memories en route to becoming Women’s T20 World Cup Champions in 2024 – an extraordinary tournament won by defending champions who gave their supporters something to cheer about with victory over South Africans in the final. A well-earned triumph that will remain with all involved forevermore! This momentous occasion marks an extraordinary achievement by all involved – let alone celebrating this special momentous achievement!
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