New Zealand beat South Africa to be crowned with T20 World Cup 2024 title on October 20. South Africa's Women's cricket team faced another heartbreaking defeat in the final of the Women's T20 World Cup 2024, losing to New Zealand by a margin of 32 runs. With this New Zealand clinched their maiden T20 World Cup title.
New Zealand break final curse to lift T20 World Cup 2024 trophy
This defeat adds to South Africa's recent history of World Cup final losses. In less than four months, both the men's and women's teams have suffered defeats in their respective T20 World Cup finals. Additionally, the women's team has now lost two consecutive T20 World Cup finals. New Zealand finally broke their World Cup final jinx. After reaching the final in both 2009 and 2010 but falling short, they overcame this hurdle at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.
Amelia Kerr was the star of the show for the newly crowned champions, delivering an exceptional all-round performance. Her contributions of 43 runs and three wickets were instrumental in securing a convincing victory.
New Zealand, batting first, posted a competitive total of 158/5. This proved to be enough as they successfully restricted South Africa to 126/9. This defeat marked another disappointing final for South Africa, following their loss in the men's T20 World Cup earlier this year.
South Africa made a promising start to their chase, with a 51-run opening partnership between Laura Wolvaardt (33) and Tazmin Brits (17). However, after the powerplay, they lost wickets at regular intervals, failing to build any significant partnerships. The star-studded South African lineup struggled to cope with the pressure, with only one player managing to score more than 20 runs.
Amelia Kerr's all-round performance, including 43 runs and three wickets, was crucial for New Zealand. Rosemary Mair also chipped in with three wickets, and the fielding unit contributed significantly to restricting South Africa's scoring.
This was South Africa's second consecutive loss in a Women's T20 World Cup final. In the previous edition, they were defeated by Australia, a team they had overcome in the semi-finals of this year's tournament.
New Zealand, batting first, lost early wickets including Georgia Plimmer, who was dismissed for just 16 runs. However, Suzie Bates, who achieved the milestone of becoming the most-capped player in international cricket, and Amelia Kerr steadied the ship. Bates contributed 32 runs, while Kerr played a crucial knock of 43 runs.
Captain Sophie Devine, who opted to bat first after losing the toss, had a disappointing outing, scoring just 6 runs. Brooke Halliday provided a much-needed boost to the innings with a quickfire 38 runs off 28 balls. Maddy Green finished the innings strongly, hitting a six on the penultimate ball to take New Zealand's total to 158/5. For South Africa, Nonkululeko Mlaba was the most effective bowler, claiming two wickets. Nadine de Klerk, Chloe Tryon, and Ayabonga Khaka also picked up a wicket each.
