New Zealand Women Won Their Maiden T20 World Cup

New Zealand women won their maiden T20 World Cup trophy after beating South Africa women by a big margin of 32 runs in the finals of the T20 World Cup 2024 in Dubai. Amelia Kerr’s incredible all-round show paved the way for the Kiwis for their first silverware, she took 3/24 with the ball and scored 43 off 38 runs with the bat.

After winning the toss Proteas skipper Laura Wolvaardt invited the Blackcaps to bat first and they scored a fighting total of 158/5 in 20 overs riding on Kerr’s 43, Suzie Bates’s 32, and Brooke Halliday’s 38 off 28 balls. Left-arm spinner, Mlaba picked up two wickets for 31 while Khaka, Tyron, and Klerk took one wicket apiece.

In Reply, South Africa could only make 126/9 in their allotted 20 overs. Everything was fine for the Proteas until 9 overs when they were 59 for two in 9.1 overs, courtesy of a fine knock of 33 off 27 balls from the top-scorer for the Proteas, Laura Wolvaardt. After that, they collapsed like a deck of cards and could not fabricate a meaningful partnership to win the game. Except for their skipper, nobody touched the 20-run mark. For New Zealand, seamer Rosemary Maur and Kerr bagged three wickets respectively whereas Carson, Jonas, and Halliday picked up one wicket each.

This historical triumph came 14 years after their 2010 T20 World Cup final loss to Australia when just three runs shattered their dreams. The whole Kiwi team was jumping and celebrating with joy and became emotional with teary eyes following their first ICC trophy in the T20 format.