Proteas women stumble again as New Zealand win T20 World Cup final

Falling short with the trophy in sight, the Proteas missed another opportunity to break the nation’s drought, as their hopes of a historic victory were crushed by New Zealand in the T20 Women’s World Cup final in Dubai on Sunday night.

For the SA side, it was another disappointing defeat after they had lost to Australia in last year’s T20 Women’s World Cup final, missing out once more on a chance to secure South Africa’s first senior World Cup cricket title.

They had been buoyed by an impressive victory over defending champions in Australia in the previous round, but Proteas captain Laura Wolvaardt admitted the national squad were not at their best in the trophy decider.

“The focus was just to reset (after the semifinal) and not get too ahead of ourselves. We knew that we still had a really quality opponent in New Zealand to go and we just didn’t play our best cricket tonight,” Wolvaardt said.

South Africa innings

Set a target of 159 runs to win, Proteas openers Laura Wolvaardt and Tazmin Brits, who had been superb throughout the tournament, again laid a solid foundation in their team’s run chase.

They shared 51 runs for the first wicket before Brits was removed for 17 in the seventh over, and New Zealand’s attack took full advantage of the breakthrough.

The Proteas were pinned back, scoring only eight runs off the next 14 balls before Wolvaardt was dismissed for 33, and they never really recovered.

They were ultimately restricted to 126/9 as they were handed a 32-run defeat.

New Zealand innings

Earlier, after being sent in to bat, the White Ferns got off to an explosive start, racing to 20 runs in the first two overs of their innings, but Ayabonga’s Khaka’s early dismissal of opening batter Georgia Plimmer slowed their momentum.

The Proteas struck regularly in an attempt to contain their opponents, but New Zealand’s batting line-up combined well and kept the pressure on the SA team.

Suzie Bates (32), Amelia Kerr (43) and Brooke Halliday (38) each contributed more than 30 runs to their side’s cause, with Kerr and Halliday sharing 57 runs for the fourth wicket, as New Zealand reached 158/5 in their 20 overs.

In-form spinner Nkululelo Mlaba was again the best of South Africa’s bowlers, taking 2/31 and completing the tournament with 12 wickets from six matches.

Poor fielding

The SA team were sloppy once again in the field, however, and gave away more runs than they would have liked.

“We probably let them score a few too many,” Wolvaardt said, “and it put a lot of pressure on us at the back.”

While New Zealand won the 50-over Women’s World Cup in 2000, they lifted the T20 trophy for the first time.