In a fantastic week for New Zealand cricket, the women’s team delivered their first-ever T20 World Cup title in Dubai. In doing so, they proved that pre-tournament form means little, as just 1 win in 13 T20Is heading into this World Cup edition would suggest.
The edifice of this title victory was laid down by their batting at both ends of the innings, after which the bowlers took out South Africa’s big-game performer Laura Wolvaardt early and put in a middle-overs squeeze that the chasing side couldn’t find their way out of. Amelia Kerr starred with both bat and ball to leave South Africa with the runners’ up medal for the second successive T20 World Cup. Wolvaardt’s side limped to 126/9 in 20 overs in chase of New Zealand’s 159/5.
New Zealand were delighted to be asked to bat first and it showed as Suzie Bates and Georgia Plimmer threw a few early punches. Ayabonga Khaka, however, altered her lengths expertly to have the latter caught by Sune Luus at long on in the second over. Marizanne Kapp, too, smartly changed her lengths to deny the batters a chance to play down the ground with ease but Amelia Kerr joined Bates to keep the runs flowing. Laura Wolvaardt responded to that with two overs of left-arm spin in the PowerPlay which cost just 8 runs. Yet, New Zealand emerged from PowerPlay with 43/1 – the highest total in the phase against South Africa at this World Cup.
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Amelia Kerr delivers New Zealand’s first-ever T20 World Cup title
Cricbuzz Staff
Sun, Oct 20, 2024 • 10:58 PM
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Wolvaardt’s side limped to 126/9 in 20 overs in chase of New Zealand’s 159/5. ©Getty
In a fantastic week for New Zealand cricket, the women’s team delivered their first-ever T20 World Cup title in Dubai. In doing so, they proved that pre-tournament form means little, as just 1 win in 13 T20Is heading into this World Cup edition would suggest.
The edifice of this title victory was laid down by their batting at both ends of the innings, after which the bowlers took out South Africa’s big-game performer Laura Wolvaardt early and put in a middle-overs squeeze that the chasing side couldn’t find their way out of. Amelia Kerr starred with both bat and ball to leave South Africa with the runners’ up medal for the second successive T20 World Cup. Wolvaardt’s side limped to 126/9 in 20 overs in chase of New Zealand’s 159/5.
New Zealand were delighted to be asked to bat first and it showed as Suzie Bates and Georgia Plimmer threw a few early punches. Ayabonga Khaka, however, altered her lengths expertly to have the latter caught by Sune Luus at long on in the second over. Marizanne Kapp, too, smartly changed her lengths to deny the batters a chance to play down the ground with ease but Amelia Kerr joined Bates to keep the runs flowing. Laura Wolvaardt responded to that with two overs of left-arm spin in the PowerPlay which cost just 8 runs. Yet, New Zealand emerged from PowerPlay with 43/1 – the highest total in the phase against South Africa at this World Cup.
But as New Zealand persisted with taking batting risks, Wolvaardt persisted with her left-arm spinner Nonkululeko Mlaba. Bates was proactive with shuffling all over the crease to find scoring areas, but one such move brought her downfall as she missed with her attempt to move across and hit over fine leg, and was bowled by Mlaba.
The tussle in the middle got tighter but New Zealand then lost Sophie Devine in the 11th over to an LBW that needed the TV umpire’s nod. South Africa enjoyed an extended period of control through the middle-overs but Brooke Halliday broke the rut. When she swept Luus in the 14th over, it was New Zealand’s first four in 49 deliveries. On the very next ball, she picked up another boundary through long-on. Halliday got the pendulum of momentum to swing in her team’s favour as she and Kerr hit two more fours in the 15th over from Nadine de Klerk.
South Africa began to get a touch sloppy as they bowled a couple of back foot no-balls and allowed a partnership to fester between Halliday and Kerr. Chloe Tryon, however, returned to break it with the wicket of Halliday in the 18th over. Kerr threw her bat around before falling for 43 and New Zealand finished how they began – with 41 runs in the last four overs taking them past the 150-run mark.
As always in a knockout fixture, Wolvaardt took charge by getting quick runs early on as South Africa had a steep required run rate to maintain. She and Tazmin Brits hit six fours between them in the PowerPlay to get to 47/0 in that period. The platform was there for South Africa to press ahead until Fran Jonas returned in the seventh over to put a spanner in their works.
Tazmin Brits, who’d made a slow start to the innings, took the spinner on and found Maddy Green at long-on. Amelia Kerr and Lea Tahuhu bowled a couple of tight overs to pile on the pressure, which cracked Wolvaardt in the 10th. After Anneke Bosch played out five dots in the previous over, Wolvaardt fell in the very next over trying to make amends.
She was lured into an uppish shot with a tossed up ball outside the off-stump from Kerr, that she hit to Suzie Bates at extra-cover. Kerr pushed the knife further into South Africa’s heart with the wicket of semifinal hero Bosch in the same over – caught behind by Isabella Gaze that came via a very good review decision. South Africa’s chase truly unravelled in the 12th and 13th over when they lost Marizanne Kapp – caught at deep square leg – and Nadine de Klerk – caught at short third.
The need to take risks brought the next few wickets as South Africa’s lower order threw their bats around in the hope of bridging the gap between runs required and balls remaining. In that process, Kerr and Rosemary Mair picked three wickets each, while a couple others picked one apiece to collectively end South Africa’s hopes of breaking their World Cup duck.
Brief Scores: New Zealand 159/5 in 20 overs (Amelia Kerr 43, Brooke Halliday 38; Nonkululeko Mlaba 2-31) beat South Africa 126/9 in 20 overs (Laura Wolvaardt 33; Amelia Kerr 3-24, Rosemary Mair 3-25) by 32 runs
