New Zealand have won the Women's T20 World Cup title for the first time. The team defeated South Africa by 32 runs in the final played at the Dubai International Stadium on Sunday. South Africa won the toss and elected to bowl first. Batting first, New Zealand scored 158 runs for 5 wickets in 20 overs. In reply, South Africa could score only 126 runs after losing 9 wickets in 20 overs.
For New Zealand, Amelia Kerr scored 43 runs and also took 3 wickets. He was adjudged player of the match.
Kerr and Mere took 3 wickets each
Besides Kerr, Brooke Halliday scored 38 runs and Suzy Betts scored 32 runs for New Zealand. Nonkululeko Mlaba was the top wicket taker for South Africa with 2 wickets. Chloe Tryon, Nadine de Klerk and Ayabonga Khaka got 1 wicket each.
South Africa got off to a good start while chasing the target. Captain Laura Walward and Tajmin Britts shared a 51-run partnership for the first wicket. But, as soon as this partnership broke, the South African team lost wickets at regular intervals. Volward was the team's top scorer. He scored 33 runs off 27 balls. Amelia Kerr and Rosemary Mere took 3 wickets each for New Zealand. Brook Halliday, Aidan Carson and Fran Jonas got 1 wicket each.
South Africa have lost three consecutive T20 World Cup finals
It has been a disappointing moment for South African cricket. After the defeat in this match, his team looked very disappointed. The South African women's team was playing their second consecutive Women's T20 World Cup final. Along with this, his team lost in the second final as well. In the last final they were defeated by the Australian women's team and this time they were defeated by the New Zealand women's team. Meanwhile, the final of the Men's T20 World Cup was also played in June 2024. Where their men's team was also defeated by the Indian cricket team in the final by 7 runs. Overall, South Africa have lost three T20 World Cup finals in the last one year.
Australia has the most titles with 6 titles
Let us tell you that due to political instability in Bangladesh, this big tournament was transferred from Bangladesh to UAE. The first winning team of the Women's T20 World Cup was England, who won the title in 2009. While Australia won the T20 World Cup title in 2010, 2012, 2014, 2018, 2020, 2023. When West Indies won the title in 2016. India's best performance in the T20 World Cup came in 2020, when they reached the final. Where Australia was defeated by 85 runs. Now New Zealand has won this title for the first time.
Image Credit: (Divya-Bhaskar): Images/graphics belong to (Divya-Bhaskar).