New Zealand women erased the bitter memories of the heartbreaks of their past T20 World Cup finals as they eventually triumphed in their third trip to the finals. The Proteas on the other hand have lost in the final for a second year running after having lost to Australia in the 2023 Women's T20 WC.
Asked to bat first, Amelia Kerr, Brooke Halliday, and Suzi Bates helped New Zealand post 158/5 in 20 overs. Georgia Plimmer and Bates opened with a strong start, but Plimmer’s attempted six off Marizanne Kapp was caught by Sune Luus. Bates soon followed, bowled by Nonkululeko Mlaba. Captain Sophie Devine was removed for six after a successful review by Nadine de Klerk.
South Africa's bowlers tightened control, with no boundaries hit between overs 5.4 and 13.5. Halliday (38) broke the shackles, raised a 57-run stand with Kerr before being caught by Anneke Bosch. Kerr hit consecutive boundaries before falling in the penultimate over to Nonkululeko Mlaba, the only bowler with multiple wickets. Maddy Green’s late six helped New Zealand set a 159-run target for SA.
With a massive target ahead of them and with the pressure at an absolute high, skipper Laura Wolvaardt (33) and Tazmin Brits (17), the two highest scorers of the edition, gave South Africa a great start.
The team racked up 47 runs in the powerplay and looked to build on the great start until Tazmin was dismissed by Fran Jonas in the very next over. In attempts to help her skipper continue the onslaught, Tazmin attempted to go big but a miscue of her shot saw Green take a simple catch at long on which rejuvenated the New Zealand side.
The fall of the wicket saw the Kiwis regain control of the game and built heavy pressure on their opponents in the following overs which saw the required run rate climb past nine runs an over. The ninth over saw New Zealand concede only one run and had five dot balls in the row which saw Wolvaardt try and relieve pressure on the first ball of the next over. In her attempts to take on Kerr, the South Africa skipper was caught at extra cover with Suzie taking the simple catch.
The removal of the skipper sprung life into the New Zealand bowling attack as a mini-collapse followed soon after. Kerr ended up removing Anneke Bosch (9), on the last ball of the same over in which Wolvaardt was dismissed when she missed an attempt to sweep the ball which resulted in a loud appeal that was rejected by the umpire. Upon further review, Bosch had indeed nicked the ball to reduce South Africa to 64/3 at the halfway mark.
What followed was a mini collapse as Marizanne Kapp (8), Nadine de Klerk (6) and Sune Luus (8) fell in quick succession.
Kerr, who set the record for most wickets in a single edition of the women’s T20 World Cup on the night, returned to take the scalp of Annerie Dercksen to further add to a historic campaign. With the game going out of South Africa’s reach with each passing over, Mair struck twice in the penultimate over before Carson wrapped up the victory for New Zealand.
The Proteas once again suffered heartbreak and lost by 32 runs.
Brief scores:
New Zealand 158/5 in 20 overs (Amelia Kerr 43, Brooke Halliday 38, Suzie Bates 32; 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.
--IANS
