New Zealand beat South Africa by 32 runs to win the 2024 edition of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup. After being invited to bat first at the Dubai International Stadium on Sunday (October 20), the White Ferns rode on Amelia Kerr’s 43 and Brooke Halliday’s 38 off 28 balls to post a total of 158 runs for the loss of five wickets. The 159-run target proved too much for the South African team, and despite captain Laura Wolvaardt’s 33, they could only manage to score 126 runs in 20 overs for the loss of nine wickets.
For the New Zealand side, Kerr was on fire with the ball as well, and she picked up 3 wickets for 24 runs in her quota of four overs. Apart from her, Rosemary Mair also accounted for the dismissal of three South African batters, and one wicket each was picked by Eden Carson, Fran Jonas, and Brooke Halliday.
For her superb all-round show in the final, Kerr won the Player of the Match award, and in addition to that, she also bagged the Player of the Tournament award. The 24-year-old cricketer from Wellington is the first player to win the Player of the Final and the Player of the Series in a Women’s T20 World Cup edition.
Thanks to her triple strikes in the summit clash, Kerr took her tally of wickets to 15 in the Women’s T20 World Cup 2024, which is a record for most wickets taken by any bowler in one edition of the tournament. She went past former England star Anya Shrubsole’s tally of 13 wickets. Shurbsole achieved the feat during the 2014 edition of the tournament, when it was played in Bangladesh.
Australian pacer Megan Schutt matched Shrubsole’s tally during the 2020 edition of the tournament.
Most wickets in a Women’s T20 WC edition
- 15 – Amelia Kerr (New Zealand) in 2024
- 13 – Anya Shrubsole (England) in 2014
- 13 – Megan Schutt (Australia) in 2020
- 12 – Nonkululeko Mlaba (South Africa) in 2024
- 11 – Julie Hunter (Australia) in 2012
- 11 – Sophie Ecclestone (England) in 2023
The super bowling show in the final also helped Kerr equal Schutt and England spinner Sophie Ecclestone’s record of taking most three wicket hauls in one edition of the Women’s T20 World Cup. All three of them have dismissed three batters each three times now in one edition of women’s shortest format megaevent. While Schutt achieved the feat in 2020, Ecclestone equalled her record in 2023, and Kerr joined the list in 2024.
Most 3-wicket hauls in a Women’s T20 WC edition
- 3 – Megan Schutt (Australia) in 2020
- 3 – Sophie Ecclestone (England) in 2023
- 3 – Amelia Kerr (New Zealand) in 2024
The star cricketer is also the second cricketer after West Indies captain and her MI teammate Hayley Matthews to score 40 runs, dismiss three batters, and take one catch in a Women’s T20 World Cup match.
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