Dubai, Oct 21: Skipper Sophie Devine was all elated after leading New Zealand to their maiden women’s T20 World Cup title. The 35-year-old inspired her team to a massive turnaround as they entered the tournament with an underwhelming form but started with a win over India to announce they were here with a mission. They played quality cricket throughout the tournament and lost just one match to former champions Australia in the group stage.New Zealand’s captain Sophie Devine kisses the trophy after winning the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2024 final.(AP)
New Zealand won their first-ever Women’s T20 World Cup title after a commanding 32-run over South Africa in Sunday’s final in Dubai.
Devine achieved her dream of holding the T20 WC trophy as she credited the players and the board for one of the biggest achievements in New Zealand cricket history.
“I think once I get my hands around that trophy… I let myself dream last night about what it would be like to hold the trophy. Didn’t want to get too far ahead of myself. Hard to put into words what it means, not just to me but to this group of players. And for New Zealand Cricket as well. It’s been a long time between drinks,” Devine said in the post-match presentation.
Before the start of the tournament, not many picked New Zealand as the favourites of the tournament due to their inconsistent performances in the past year, but Devine asserted that every team starts at zero when entering a tournament like WC.
“The great thing about this group is we’ve known what we’ve been trying to achieve the last 18 months. Results haven’t gone in our favour but we know we’ve been building in the right direction. Look, we played the two best teams in the world for 15 games in a row. It was a pretty steep learning curve but we knew that we keep taking steps in the right direction. Absolutely, you want momentum and all that but we’ve rewritten it. As you say, coming off 10 losses in a row. Coming at the WC, everyone starts at zero,” she added.
It was also a landmark game for veteran Suzie Bates, who became the most capped player in the history of women’s international cricket. The New Zealand skipper was all praise of her star player and her contribution to New Zealand cricket.
“Just speaks to the volume of who Suze is as a player that she’s now the most capped player in the history of the women’s game. It’s unbelievable to think that she can go out there and play with such aggression and such fearlessness. It set the tone for the rest of the lineup. To have her in the lineup – everyone knows how special I find Suze,” she said.
âAmelia Kerr once-in-a-generation playerâ
Meanwhile, she also talked highly of Amelia Kerr, who was Player of the Match and Tournament with her all-round show. She scored crucial 43 runs with the bat and then claimed three wickets, which laid the foundation for the historic win.
“Thing we’ve spoken as a group is the effort and energy you’ve put in. We all know she’s a once-in-a-generation player (Kerr). Pretty sure she can’t feel her legs at the moment. The person that she is. The world’s her oyster,” she asserted.
Devine also confirmed that she is sticking to his plan to quit the captaincy of New Zealand with the T20 World Cup triumph.
Laura Wolvaardt, South Africa Women captain, said, We obviously had a really good semi-final. Focus was to reset. Not get too ahead of ourselves. Knew we had a quality opponent in New Zealand to go up against. Didn’t play our best cricket tonight. They really came at us hard in the powerplay. At first we thought we could ride the wave a bit with a few wickets here and there. But they just kept going. Probably let them score a bit too many. I don’t know (lessons?). Will have to have a good reflection on what really happened. Still fresh right now. Were backing ourselves at the halfway stage. They really put the squeeze after the powerplay. I think 7-11 was probably not our best phase but credit to New Zealand. Very exciting (on the side’s future). Have some really experienced players like Marizanne Kapp. Have some youngsters on the bench as well who didn’t get an opportunity this World Cup.