Kerr, Halliday deliver World Cup glory on dream day for NZ cricket

New Zealand 158 for 5 (Kerr 43, Halliday 38, Bates 32, Mlaba 2-31) beat South Africa 126 for 9 (Wolvaardt 33, Mair 3-25, Kerr 3-24) by 32 runs

October 20 can be written in big, bold letters, as one of New Zealand cricket’s unforgettable dates. Hours after men’s team recorded a famous Test win, their first in India in 36 years, the women’s team delivered the country’s maiden T20I World Cup in style in Dubai.

As a nation of four million clocked in to work on Monday morning, Sophie Devine and Suzie Bates – “grandmas of the team” as Bates laughed in jest – had just about finished theirs, getting their hands on the Women’s T20 World Cup trophy, the cup that had agonizingly got away from them 14 years ago at Kensington Oval.

It was fitting that the two legends, who have carried the country’s cricket ecosystem for so long, through issues with depth and limited financial resources, could enjoy the night of their lives in the twilight of their storied careers.

Amelia Kerr, who had hoped to dedicate the win to the golden oldies, couldn’t have stepped up with a more impactful effort – top scoring with 43, while also picking up three wickets, all with a slight limp due to cramps.

For added context, New Zealand had come into the tournament on a streak of 10 T20I losses, the longest losing streak any team has turned around to win a cricket World Cup. On this night, all of that didn’t matter though.

Bates and New Zealand come out swinging

New Zealand came out punching knowing 134 and 141 by Australia and England respectively had been razed at this venue over the past few days. They lost Georgia Plimmer – who’d struck a couple of fours – in the second over, but Bates quickly took over. She had been striking at 90.77 in five innings coming into the final; here she showed intent right from the get go, getting a boundary – walloped over midwicket – off her second ball. But from 17 off 13, she slowed down as the introduction of spin made stroke-making a challenge.

Halliday injects momentum with her career-best

The dismissals of Bates and Sophie Devine – due to the slowness of the surface – left New Zealand needing a massive effort from their middle order.

They went through 48 deliveries without a boundary in the middle overs. Kerr struggled, and didn’t find her hitting range until the last few deliveries of her 38-ball vigil that brought 43. It wasn’t until the arrival of Brooke Halliday, the left-hander, did New Zealand break out of a rut.

Halliday brought out a slog sweep in the 14th off Sune Luus to break the boundary drought, and once the shackles were broken, New Zealand had another boundary off the very next ball. By jumping around the crease and opening scoring areas behind square on the leg side through sweeps and slogs, Halliday’s presence breathed life into an innings that had been struggling to get out of second gear.

Halliday’s enterprise helped raise a half-century stand off just 37 balls with Kerr playing a support role. Halliday’s highest in T20Is, in 32 previous innings, had been 33 while striking at 82. Here, under the pressure of a final, Halliday’s career-best 38 had come of 28.

A cameo from Maddy Green provided New Zealand a late lift: 48 off the last five, as they finished with 158, two less than the score they comfortably defended against India in their tournament opener.

Full report to follow

Shashank Kishore is a senior sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo