NZ beat South Africa to win maiden Women’s T20 World Cup title

New Zealand have won their first-ever Women’s T20 World Cup, beating South Africa by 32 runs to claim the title on Sunday in Dubai.

The White Ferns went into the final as underdogs with top cricket betting sites, but when put in to bat, they got off to a strong start.

Georgia Plimmer (9) came out hard at the Protea bowlers, racing her side out to 16/0 from the first 10 balls before falling in the second over.

Amelia Kerr (43) then joined Suzie Bates (32) at the crease, and the pair put on a solid partnership of 37 for the second wicket.

It would be Kerr’s stand with Brooke Halliday (38), however, that brought the bulk of the Kiwi runs.

The pair combined for 57 runs between the 11th and 18th overs, taking New Zealand through to 127/4 before Halliday holed out.

A last-minute flurry took the White Ferns to a competitive total of 158/5, with 48 of those coming off the last five overs.

South Africa made a strong start and were ahead in live odds as the powerplay drew to a close, with Laura Wolvaardt (33) and Tazmin Brits (17) putting on 51 runs for the first wicket.

When Brits fell on the final ball of the seventh over, cracks began to appear in the South African lineup.

Wickets began to come with regularity as the Proteas slipped from 51/0 to 77/5.

A brief rebuild to 97/5 gave some hope, but the required run rate had ballooned and the 2023 finalists were only able to limp through to 126/9.

New Zealand’s Kerr was named player of the match after adding 3/24 to her top-scoring knock.

“I’m a little bit speechless and I’m just so stoked to get the win, considering what this team has been through,” she said after the match.

“It’s what dreams are made of.

“It was an outstanding contribution from everyone and a lot of belief to finish the job.”

Kiwi captain Sophie Devine echoed Kerr’s sentiment, emphasising in her post-match comments how significant the victory is for New Zealand cricket.

“It’s hard to put into words what it means,” she said.

“It has been a long time between drinks.

“The great thing about this is we have known what we have been trying to achieve for probably the last 12, 18, 24 months.

“Results haven’t gone our way, but we know that we’ve been building in the right direction.

“We’ve played the two best teams in the world for, I think, 14 or 15 games in a row.

“It was a pretty steep learning curve, but we knew that we kept taking steps in the right direction.

“Absolutely, you want momentum and things like that, but I think we have just rewritten them a little bit.

“Coming off 10 losses in a row to come into a World Cup where we knew everyone starts back at zero and it’s anyone’s game and to be standing here now, it’s pretty special.”

Sports betting news