And now for the moment Devine was dreaming about last night. She lifts the trophy and the fireworks go off once more. The champagne is flowing, as are the tears and New Zealand get to pose as champions for the first time ever. Once the team photograph is done with the trophy, the three grandmas (Tahuhu, Bates and Devine) get together for a separate picture of their own. So that wraps a tournament that defied expectations and tore apart all kinds of predictions. Hope you enjoyed our coverage. This is Sagar Chawla signing off on behalf of Venky and Raju Peethala. Goodbye!
Here's Raju Peethala making sense of the WC in his own way
World Cup on the boil Bangladesh in turmoil Tough test on Middle East Soil Edition nine for a new place trial
Maiden win for the Bangla girls Mighty win for the White Ferns Memorable debut, Bryce sisters Just one game together, Kerr sisters
SL performance gloom and doom Slow-low surface, sweeping norm England flirt with the NRR worm Wolvaardt Britz are a pair in form
Mlaba, Kerr, Healy and Kaur Aussies knocking on the injury door Stefanie Taylor Ash Gardner Qiana Joseph is a game-changer
Fatima Sana, news of tragedy Skipper Shows a lot of bravery Dropped catches aplenty India's campaign jeopardy
Bosch Luus Chloe Tryon Bates Carson Sophie Devine Final night, Rosemary Mair Kiwis conquer the ring of fire
They had lost 10 straight T20Is heading into this tournament, their longest losing streak in the format.
Defeats in consecutive Women’s T20 WC finals 2 - NZ-W in 2009 & 2010 2 - ENG-W in 2012 & 2014 2 - SA-W in 2023 & 2024
Double of 40 runs & 2 wickets most often in Women’s T20 WC 3 - Hayley Matthews 2 - Deandra Dottin 2 - Suzie Bates 2 - Stafanie Taylor 2 - Amelia Kerr
Amelia Kerr is the only one to have achieved this double in a knockout game (semis or the final).
40 runs, 3 wickets & a catch in a Women’s T20 WC game 62, 3/16, 1 - Hayley Matthews (WI-W) vs SL-W, St Lucia, 2018 43, 3/24, 1 - Amelia Kerr (NZ-W) vs SA-W, Dubai, 2024 Final
Most wickets in a Women’s T20 WC edition 15* - Amelia Kerr (NZ-W) in 2024 13 - Anya Shrubsole (ENG-W) in 2014 13 - Megan Schutt (AUS-W) in 2020 12 - Nonkululeko Mlaba (SA-W) in 2024 11 - Julie Hunter (AUS-W) in 2012 11 - Sophie Ecclestone (ENG-W) in 2023
Most 3-wicket hauls in a Women’s T20 WC edition 3 - Megan Schutt (AUS-W) in 2020 3 - Sophie Ecclestone (ENG-W) in 2023 3 - Amelia Kerr (NZ-W) in 2024
Amelia Kerr is also the first player to win the Player of the Final and the Player of the Series in a Women’s T20 World Cup edition.
Highest match aggregates without a 50-plus score in Women’s T20 WC 304 - AUS-W vs SA-W, Taunton, 2009 284 - SA-W vs NZ-W, Dubai, 2024 Final 280 - AUS-W vs ENG-W, Colombo RPS, 2012 Final 278 - AUS-W vs PAK-W, Guyana, 2018 273 - WI-W vs ENG-W, Paarl, 2023
Oldest players to win a Women’s T20 WC final 37y 34d - Suzie Bates (NZ-W) in 2024 35y 49d - Sophie Devine (NZ-W) in 2024 34y 27d - Lea Tahuhu (NZ-W) in 2024 33y 269d - Claire Taylor (ENG-W) in 2009 33y 164d - Shelley Nitschke (AUS-W) in 2010
Sophie Devine | New Zealand Women captain: I think once I get my hands around that trophy... I let myself dream last night about what it would be like to hold the trophy. Didn't want to get too far ahead of myself. Hard to put into words what it means, not just to me but to this group of players. And for New Zealand Cricket as well. It's been a long time between drinks. The great thing about this group is we've known what we've been trying to achieve the last 18 months. Results haven't gone in our favour but we know we've been building in the right direction. Look, we played the two best teams in the world for 15 games in a row. It was a pretty steep learning curve but we knew that we keep taking steps in the right direction. Absolutely, you want momentum and all that but we've rewritten it. As you say, coming off 10 losses in a row. Coming at the World Cup, everyone starts at zero. Just speaks to the volume of who Suze is as a player that she's now the most capped player in the history of the women's game. It's unbelievable to think that she can go out there and play with such aggression and such fearlessness. It set the tone for the rest of the lineup. To have her in the lineup - everyone knows how special I find Suze. Spoken about at length before Lea is the sort of person you want in the team. No chance. I am done. (changing mind on leaving captaincy). Brooke was outstanding in the way she hit the pockets. Thing we've spoken as a group is the effort and energy you've put in. We all know she's a once-in-a-generation player (Kerr). Pretty sure she can't feel her legs at the moment. The person that she is. The world's her oyster. Want to thank Laura and the South African side. They were outstanding, their semi vs Australia was unbelievable. I think I'm getting heckled now (crowd roars and gets restless).
New Zealand's turn to collect their medals.
Laura Wolvaardt | South Africa Women captain: We obviously had a really good semi-final. Focus was to reset. Not get too ahead of ourselves. Knew we had a quality opponent in New Zealand to go up against. Didn't play our best cricket tonight. They really came at us hard in the powerplay. At first we thought we could ride the wave a bit with a few wickets here and there. But they just kept going. Probably let them score a bit too many. I don't know (lessons?). Will have to have a good reflection on what really happened. Still fresh right now. Were backing ourselves at the halfway stage. They really put the squeeze after the powerplay. Very exciting. Have some really experienced players like Marizanne Kapp. Have some youngsters on the bench as well who didn't get an opportunity this World Cup. Really big thank you to our management. The work they put in behind the scenes isn't noticed. The hours and hours they put to get us ready to play is something we are really appreciative of and they don't get the recognition for. Also just to the families who flew up. Lots of families flew up last night. It was a big mission to get visas. But most of them managed to be here. And to CSA and ICC for their support.
South Africa players walk up for the runners-up medals. Here's their captain and champion batter Laura Wolvaardt.
Time for the presentations...
Amelia Kerr | PoTM and PoTS: I'm a little bit speechless, I'm stoked considering how the tournament has gone. I thought the wicket was pretty good and slowed up a bit. Not bad bowling 2nd and the way Brook came out and Maddy hitting a six at the end. She took so much pressure off me and I was struggling a lot. I was struggling to time the ball and she came and found the gaps, to do that in a semi and in a final is class. I got a cramp and found myself hiding in the ring. The first ball I bowled I cramped up and I thought I might not bowl tonight. The wrong'uns and the spin group was amazing. Bowling is what first got me in the White Ferns and I want to get better. I have said it in the last year, the spin group I have is what I have enjoyed. It is always better when you get big players, you want to be a big match player. That's my job. I absolutely love it and I have played international cricket for a while, to have played with three of our greats and also at the age when youngsters. I love playing for the White Ferns and it means so much to me.
The Player of the Match and Player of the tournament is Amelia Kerr for an outstanding tournament.
Georgia Plimmer: It has been bit of a ride in the last couple of years, but so thankful to be here right now. It is kind of hard to put into words how much she (Bates) means for this group and for her to take me under her wing and she has been incredible, the legacy that she has done not only for New Zealand cricket but for the world cricket, I think she is an exceptional human and I am so unbelievably grateful to be able to be out there with her. I don't think I have ever played in front of a crowd, for them to be on a ride I think it just added to the atmosphere and obviously we didn't really have to talk as much because the whole crowd was doing it in general. The one that was coming to me (talking about the catch) I lost it in the lights for a second and I just put my hands out there. We talked a lot about as a group before coming here about our fielding is gonna be so important, so to be able to do it at a standard like that I think Maddy (Green) has been incredible and everyone has put their part in to contribute.
Ben Sawyer | New Zealand head coach: Really happy for the girls. It has been a tough few months. We believed in the gameplans and we came out on top against one of the best teams in the world. We just spoke about how their best was good enough with the way we have played in the tournament. As Sophie (Devine) says, we can beat anyone on a given day. We have showed a little bit of video today on all the good things we have done and I am really happy for them. It's an absolute privilege to be involved with those three (Bates, Devine and Tahuhu). They are greats of the game and they can say they are world champions.
Suzie Bates: In shock really, this tournament just little things have gone our way and we have just played with real pride. Whatever happened today, I was so proud of the group. We knew South Africa were gonna come hard when the got the opportunity for us to bat, so we just wanted to take the game on I didn't expect us to come this far so we just allowed ourselves to play with freedom. Georgia and I knew, it was important we started well and get through that powerplay, but she has been outstanding the whole tournament. Georgia, for such a young player, she is a world champion at such a young age and she has batted so well and helped me down at the other end.. Everyone has contributed, but her in particular with the bat I couldn't be prouder of the young girl. This means everything to us (Devine and I). We have played team sport for so long and when you play team sport, you want to be a world champion and we have fought our way back to the top. We started with a few final opportunities, but since then it has been pretty rare and she has been so outstanding leading this team and so calm and believing in us. There have been few dark times that only us in that group shared. We couldn't get a win leading into this World Cup and we questioned ourselves as leaders, but just kept backing us and that is really special. They (youngsters) have been brilliant like Eden Carson, outstanding whole tournament. Even though Melie (Kerr) has been around for a while, she is so young leading our spin attack with Fran Jonas and I will add myself for one sneaky over. Everyone contributed and it is a real team effort, so that just makes you so satisfied as an athlete for all to come together in this moment and something I will never forget.
Brooke Halliday: I am still dehydrated. At the halfway stage, I thought 159 was a competitive total. The way we bowled especially after the powerplay was brilliant. Very proud and shocked.
Lea Tahuhu: Absolutely surreal, just so proud of this team, everything we have achieved over the last 18 months and the realization that we are World Champs. Just unbelievably proud, this team is so so special, after the first game we thought that we could achieve something special, wooooooooohoooooooooo. Grace told me to do this for her, we are bringing the trophy home.
Isabella Gaze: It hasn't sunk in yet, it is incredible. I am so happy for the team. Just heard (talking about the edge and review against Bosch) it pretty clear and I was really confident. I knew that Soph (Devine) would back my judgement and yeah it was a good one. We got so much belief in this team, coming into this tournament we probably not on the best streak and we have shown our skills and backed ourselves and look where we are. This is for them (Devine and Bates) and this is their win and we did it as a team and hopefully it will make them proud.
Rosemary Mair: Pretty Unbelievable to be honest. Coming into the World Cup, all the odds were against it and to win the World Cup is pretty unbelievable. The batters put up a fantastic total for us to defend and to pull them back from overs 6 to 10 was special. We care so much for each other, We've been through a lot of lows in the last 18 months but we've stuck by each other, they are pretty old, having made the last final 14 years ago, pretty proud of the old gals.
Lots of post-match reactions. We will bring you all of them. Stay tuned.
21:18 Local Time, 17:18 GMT, 22:48 IST: The fireworks go off and the rest of the New Zealand players catch up with Bates and Devine
New Zealand Women
South Africa Women
