“Well, we wanted to keep everyone interested, so we thought about making it as suspenseful as possible.”
New Zealand skipper Sophie Devine said this after her group win over Pakistan helped them reach the semi-finals of the 2024 Women’s T20 World Cup.
On a muggy Friday evening in Sharjah, Divine and her team once again embraced their love of chaos and secured a place in the summit with a narrow eight-run win over West Indies.
Sophie Devine decided to take her batting on the testing surface in Sharjah, where conditions were made tricky by high humidity and little wind at night. An early slow boil from Suzie Bates and Georgia Plimmer swallowed up many deliveries. The pair failed to grasp the wicketkeeper’s action. Bates, in particular, struggled as he attempted to produce several unattractive shots to create points. New Zealand’s first 10 overs were underwhelming with 26 dot balls at that stage.
As it happened
The match was stopped twice due to injuries. Both were due to overs by Deandra Dottin. Chinelle Henry was the first to get the ball in her face as she tried to catch Amelia Kerr for long. A few overs later, a ball thrown back towards the crease hit Brooke Halliday’s leg, forcing her to be examined by a physiotherapist.
After these two breaks, Dottin struck a wicket in the very next ball to deny New Zealand the momentum. She finished with four wickets. Afy Fletcher dismissed Devine but Izzy Gaze and some persistence from the tail took them to 128/9.
Devine’s White Ferns did not allow Hayley Matthews and Co. to get comfortable, replicating the control and discipline the West Indies showed with the ball.
The responsibility of the chase fell on Dottin’s shoulders. She was aided by three lifelines in the field but eventually fell to Kerr, who took two wickets to complement Eden Carson’s three-ferr. The real thrill of the night came in the final out, when Devine pitched to Bates instead of Lea Tahuhu, fielding 15 runs and only three fielders out. Bates put all his experience to work to deliver the win and take the White Ferns to their third T20 World Cup final.
