Phew, the joy, the agony and the drama of World Cup cricket is something else. So it's South Africa vs New Zealand in the final on Sunday where we'll have a new winner to lift the trophy. Spare a thought for West Indies who were brilliant in the way they bounced back after the opening defeat and had a run of three sensational run-chases - one of which sent mighty England crashing. But this evening, they just couldn't find that extra spark on a sluggish Sharjah pitch. That's all from here. It's goodbye from Sagar Chawla on behalf of Praveen.
Devine | NZ captain: Hasn't sunk in at all yet. Still trying to get my brain back from being fried out there. Really privileged to have an opportunity to play the WC final. Our last couple of overs saved our bacon a little bit. I felt we were looking a bit under par. But the way Izzi batted at the end and scraped through a few extra runs. We thought 130 would be a competitive total - not quite par, but the highest chase here was 127. So we knew we were in with a great shout. This wicket here can be tough. We saw in our innings it can be difficult to get away. But when you've got players like Hayley Matthews and Deandra Dottin in the opposition, the game is never over. She's a quality player (Dottin). You can set a field for her but she just clears it over the top of them, It's about keeping things clear and not being too frazzled and having a real clear mind of did you execute, or did you make the wrong decision of the ball you wanted to bowl. So having real clarity on that is important for us. Obviously we put down a couple of chances - the game might've been a little bit easier if we had taken them. Full credit to the WI, they've been outstanding. Deandra coming out of retirement, the way Hayley has led this side, we knew it was going to be a tough game. Huge respect for the WI side. Halliday was close to being given the ball as well in terms of being able to take pace off. But to have someone of Suzie's experience - she's been harping on it at training. When you've got that sort of experience, to be able to call on her is pretty clutch with three fielders out. Pretty special for me to throw her the ball. The thing that makes me most proud as a leader is the reslience we've shown and the character we've had, not just in this tournament but the last 12-18 months. Results haven't gone our way and we've had a lot of stick from the outside but the belief in what this group is about, and what we're capable of doing has been there. To be able to go this deep, I'm now really excited about this last match. We've got nothing to lose and that's a pretty cool space to be. We'll celebrate tonight's success but yeah.. we're going to win this thing now. They're an incredible side. The way Laura Wolvaardt leads them, leads from the front. They've got experience, the likes of Marizanne Kapp - one of the best players in the world. In big games, she always seems to stand up. You look at Anneke Bosch - the game against Australia. It's pretty cliche but we focusing on ourselves and we playing to the best of our ability and we'll go a long way towards lifting the trophy. Fingers crossed, hopefully the cricketing gods are on our side as well.
Matthews | WI captain: We bowled really well upfront. Probably just got away a little bit in the end but we can't blame the bowlers. At the beginning of the day we would've taken 127 no doubt. We probably just weren't able to get going early on and that put us under pressure. We felt they were a few runs short based on the wicket. We just wanted to stay positive, same thing with Qiana Joseph up the order. But we never got going. Felt like it never really got out of our hands. Few boundaries and the game was able to change and that showed when Deandra smacked a few over midwicket. Unfortunately she got out after that. Kudos to her - she had a great game firstly with the ball, and then making sure we had a chance with bat too. It is disappointing for the entire group. I'm incredibly proud of everyone within the team. We saw players that haven't been on the circuit very much show up at this WC and I think as a group we've come together and exceeded expectations. We were able to prove a lot of people wrong.
New Zealand Women have qualified for the final of the Women’s T20 World Cup for the third time; they were runners-up in the first two editions in 2009 and 2010 respectively.
The White Ferns had lost 10 straight Women T20Is heading into this tournament, their longest losing streak in the format.
Most wickets in a Women’s T20 WC edition 13 - A Shrubsole (ENG-W) in 2014 13 - Megan Schutt (AUS-W) in 2020 12* - Amelia Kerr (NZ-W) in 2024 11 - JL Hunter (AUS-W) in 2012 11 - Sophie Ecclestone (ENG-W) in 2023
Most sixes in a Women’s T20 WC edition 13 - Harmanpreet Kaur (IND-W) in 2018 9 - Deandra Dottin (WI-W) in 2010 9 - Alyssa Healy (AUS-W) in 2020 9 - Shafali Verma (IND-W) in 2020 9 - Deandra Dottin (WI-W) in 2024 Dottin now has 31 sixes in Women's T20 World Cup, no one else has hit more than 19.
Eden Carson is in tears | Player of the Match: As you can see, I'm really emotional but really proud of the girls. When Deandra Dottin was pumping us... the girls just believed and stuck it out and we got over the line. We really had to defend another low total, below-par, had to get early wickets against West Indies, they are a dangerous side. We saw how the West Indies bowled, they bowled a bit more back-of-a-length and it worked, we bowled a bit full, it's alright.
21:25 Local Time, 17:25 GMT, 22:55 IST: Big celebrations from the NZ players.
Stat: The last Suzie Bates bowled in a T20I was against ENG-W in Wellington in March.
19.6
Bates to Afy Fletcher, 1 run, to long-on
19.5
Bates to Afy Fletcher, no run
19.4
Bates to Ashmini Munisar, 1 run, tossed up on leg as Bates stays round the wicket to the right-hander.
Ashmini Munisar, right handed bat, comes to the crease
19.3
Bates to Zaida James, out Bowled!! Zaida James b Bates 14(8) [4s-2]
Bates to Zaida James, THATS OUT!! Bowled!!
19.2
Bates to Zaida James, no run
19.1
Bates to Zaida James, FOUR, to deep extra cover
New Zealand too have an over-rate penalty. Just the three fielders outside the ring now for them in this over.
Suzie Bates, right-arm medium, comes into the attack
18.6
Eden Carson to Afy Fletcher, 2 runs, to deep mid-wicket
18.5
Eden Carson to Zaida James, 1 run, to mid-off
18.4
Eden Carson to Zaida James, 2 runs, to extra cover
New Zealand Women
West Indies Women
