The final of the Women’s World T20 Cup will take place tomorrow. This post looks at how a final that will be historic, possibly in multiple ways, came to be. The last post I wrote about this tournament saw New Zealand move into the semi-finals by beating Pakistan. I now pick up the story from there.
AN EPIDEMIC THAT WAS NOT CATCHING
In the last remaining group match of the tournament England faced West Indies in a match that was effectively ‘winner takes all’. England batted first and scored 141-7 from their 20 overs, a tally that looked possible to defend and may have been so had England held their catches. Unfortunately for them they dropped a cartload. Chief culprit was opener Maia Bouchier who shelled no fewer than four, but she was not alone in being at fault. Qiana Joseph took advantage of England’s generosity in the field to record a very quick 50, and West Indies had two whole overs and six wickets in hand when they secured the win. Their margin of victory was enough to see them top the group over South Africa, meaning that they would face New Zealand in the semi-final. Scorecard here.
THE FIRST SEMI-FINAL
I only got to follow about the last 15 overs of this one due to being at work when it started. Australia batted first and scored 134-5, a total that suggests over caution – while this has been a low scoring tournament, Australia have immense batting depth, and the loss of only half their wickets gives the appearance of not making maximum use of their resources. South Africa made full use of the Power Play – they were past 60 in the sixth over by the time I joined the coverage. The destroyer in chief with the bat was Anneke Bosch who had had a quiet tournament up to that point. She was well supported by Laura Wolvaardt, who goes into the final as the tournament’s leading run scorer. When Wolvaardt was out just before the end Chloe Tryon joined Bosch who continued in irrepressible vein. Appropriately it was Bosch who sealed the victory, hitting the second ball of the 18th over for a four that took her score to 74* (48). This victory by South Africa, well and truly laying the ‘chokers’ tag to rest (no side who beat the Aussies in a knock out match can be so described), also meant that in this, the 20th women’s world cup across formats, the final would, for the first time in the history of both competitions feature neither England nor Australia. I am English, but I can absolutely see that this tangible lessening of the dominance of these two sides is good news for the women’s game as a whole and as such I welcome, and indeed celebrate the fact that this has become a tournament for the underdogs. Scorecard here.
THE SECOND SEMI-FINAL
New Zealand won the toss and chose to bat. West Indies would have chosen to bowl first had they won the toss, so both sides had things the way they wanted them in that regard. Suzie Bates and Georgia Plimmer opened with a stand of 48 in 8.2 overs. Plimmer went on to top score with 33. Other than the openers only Izzy Gaze, 20* off 14 balls, reached as far as 20. New Zealand ended with 128-9 from their 20 overs, and it looked like game on. Chinelle Henry suffered an injury when she misjudged a catch and the ball hit her forehead. She was replaced under concussion protocols with Chedean Nation.
New Zealand soon took control of proceedings. With five overs to go West Indies were 72-5, still 57 short of the target. At that point Deandra Dottin got stuck into Lea Tahuhu. In that 16th over Dottin hit three sixes, and in total West Indies scored 23, reducing the ask to an achievable looking 34 in four overs. The next three overs were the last of the match for each of the three young New Zealand spinners (Eden Carson, off spin, 23 years old, 4-0-29-3; Fran Jones, left arm orthodox spin, 20 years old, 4-0-21-1; and the veteran of the trio, Amelia Kerr, leg spin, 24 years old and with seven years international experience already, 4-0-14-2), and they held West Indies to 19 runs of those three overs, leaving 15 required off the final over. At this point, with Tahuhu having that horror over against Dottin and all the other front liners bowled through New Zealand skipper Sophie Devine made a massive call – she entrusted the final over of the match to Suzie Bates who had not bowled a ball in either this match or any of her previous 14 international matches. When the first ball was hit for four by Zaida James to take her to 14 off six balls it looked like it might be backfiring, but the next ball was a dot, and then the third ball of the over rattled James’ stumps to make it 118-8, 11 needed off three balls. Ashmini Munisar got a single off the first of these deliveries, which got the experienced Afy Fletcher back on strike, but also left her needing to score 10 off two balls. When the first of those deliveries escaped unscathed Bates merely needed to bowl a legal delivery to put New Zealand into the final. She did so, an irrelevant single accrued, and New Zealand were home by eight runs. This victory means that the Womens’ World T20 cup 2024 will definitely be won by a team who have never won it before (West Indies had done so), and also creates the possibility of another piece of history – if Bates is fit to play in the final (NZ will pick her unless she is ill or injured) she will make her 334th international appearance across formats in that match, which will make her the most capped female international cricketer ever, moving ahead of Mithali Raj of India. Scorecard here.
PHOTOGRAPHS
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