The big story of this World Cup was the elimination of India, England and Australia. Never before in the tournament's history had there been a final without any of the two Ashes rivals, let alone the big three. In that regard, we have two unlikely finalists taking the stage in a tournament where - for the first time - there's equal prize money for the winners as the men's. "Really good where we can have a tournament where teams in the middle half are reaching the finals," West Indies captain Hayley Matthews said at the toss ahead of the semifinal with New Zealand. "Hopefully it does a lot for those teams and helps get cricket out of the top three a bit more and gives opportunity to teams at the bottom of the rankings." Hear, hear!
4.15pm local: Over the last three weeks in the UAE, we've seen teams having to adjust their style of play in line with conditions many of them have never faced before. On slow pitches and equally slow outfields at times, batters have been challenged to the limit in order to find ways of scoring at a decent clip. There have been surprise results, great stories of players fighting remarkable odds, and some really sharp skills on display - particularly with the ball. Not to miss the catching, although there hasn't been much of that going on. But after all the good and bad for a tournament that had to be moved to a different location at the last minute, history beckons at the T20 World Cup as one of New Zealand or South Africa will win the title for the very first time. In some cases, entire careers have been spent leading up to this moment. In some others, it's possibly the start of a wonderful era to follow. Hello and welcome to our live coverage for a game that's going to be an emotional journey for two teams who have been there, but never done that. This is Sagar Chawla and I'm joined by Raju Peethala to bring you all the action.
Preview by Purnima Malhotra
Suzie Bates never watches the highlights of her bowling, believing she "looks hideous". But she broke that norm on Saturday, reviewing the final moments of New Zealand's last-over win at Sharjah to book themselves the 2024 T20 World Cup final berth after nearly a decade and a half. The heart-rates were still elevated, trying to absorb the magnitude of it all, admitted Chloe Tryon after showing the exit route to serial winners Australia. The disappointment of a home World Cup stings harder than most, and no two teams know the hurt better than New Zealand and South Africa who have, against all odds and admittedly in utmost shock, made it to Sunday's summit clash in Dubai.
Australia's four-peat now a piped dream, a new T20 champion is confirmed. However, for both teams this shot at the elusive silverware means more than just realising a dream. It's a vindication of their faith in the oft thrown around cricketing cliche called the processes. New Zealand (0.312) and South Africa (0.636) had the least win-loss ratio among the 10 participants in the World Cup cycle coming into the tournament. But the results, or the lack thereof, didn't faze them despite the flak both copped.
New Zealand came into the World Cup on the worst losing streak of 10 games, and were written off before landing in the UAE. By stunning one of the title favourites in their opener on a carefully devised year-long plan, Sophie Devine & Co. all but sealed themselves a passage to the knockouts, where they then slayed the team that last time struck them out of the semis. For particularly Devine and Bates, who have played each of the nine T20 World Cups to date and finished as bridesmaids in first-two, it's been an arduous journey back up against a ticking clock.
"Ever since 2009, as a cricketer, when you play a team sport, your ultimate goal is to be a world champion. So, I think it's been all those tournaments that have motivated me and I know Sophie as well, and some of the younger girls - fortunately or unfortunately - don't have that extra motivation. But yeah, it feels like it's just all built to this moment and we get one more opportunity tomorrow to have a good dig. I think that's the most overwhelming thing about it. It has felt like a really long journey to get back to this point," Bates said on Saturday.
South Africa, too, were left to pick up the pieces when they botched a chase against Australia in front of a loud and proud capacity Newlands crowd last year, and the growth in the last 18 months under a new leader has been unmissable.
"I think before we'd kind of get a little bit flustered and now there's a lot more calmness in the group because I feel like the girls have been doing this a long time but I feel like the youngsters as well have soaked that up and are really doing well with that," Chloe Tryon said ahead of what is South Africa's second successive final. "I always feel like the team that stays calm the longest will win the game. I feel like we kind of got flustered - and we do get flustered at times - but I feel like throughout this tournament we've been very calm and very clear on how we want to do things and I think that's just showing the growth team how well they're doing together."
The calmness in their approach was on display in the clinical takedown of the Australian attack to avenge the 2023 loss, with a different match-winner putting their hand up in clutch situation.
The dog fight in the middle and the character shown by both teams - led from the front by leaders who are on the opposite ends of the age and experience spectrum - is another common thread in their road to the final. South Africa's success has been built on its in-form openers and now even the middle-order that follows, with pace spearheads Marizanne Kapp and Ayabonga Khaka holding in their own when spin was seen as the shortcut to success. New Zealand, meanwhile, have strewn together victories inspired by young and experienced alike at a time when a leadership change is in the offing,
Not many would have predicted this final showdown three weeks ago. Irrespective of who lifts the trophy and who has to heartbreakingly come back to try again next time, never has the spotlight shone brighter on the narrowing gap between the well-offs and those disadvantaged by their own system.
Head to Head: New Zealand and South Africa have never crossed paths in a T20 World Cup knockout before, but the former leads 3-2 in group encounters. Their rivalry may have been lop-sided before - New Zealand 11-4 South Africa overall - but the record stands at 3-all in their last six completed T20Is.
When: Sunday, October 20 at 6 PM Local | 7:30 PM IST
Where: Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Dubai
What to expect: As many as 7 of the 11 matches in Dubai have been won by chasing sides, and four out of those results were in the five most recent games played here. Incidentally, they were all night matches. West Indies and South Africa did that in their last games to make it to the semis and final respectively, but New Zealand, on the other hand, have shown the propensity to put runs on the board instead.
Team News
After a day's complete rest, South Africa turned an optional session to a full-blown training on the eve of the final. Fully fit and available squad to pick from, but they might just stick to the same XI that won them the semifinal.
New Zealand called off their match-eve training having just played their semifinal on Friday. They also have a fully fit and available squad, and could stick to the winning combination.
Probable XI: Suzie Bates, Georgia Plimmer, Amelia Kerr, Sophie Devine (C), Brooke Halliday, Maddy Green, Isabella Gaze (wk), Rosemary Mair, Lea Tahuhu, Eden Carson, Fran Jonas
Did you know?
- Sophie Devine is 43 away from reaching 10,000 runs in women’s T20s
- Amelia Kerr needs two more wickets to become the highest wicket-taker in a single edition of T20 World Cups
- Laura Wolvaardt is 45 away from completing 2000 runs for South Africa in women’s T20Is
What they said:
"A lot of fight, a lot of character. If you look at how they've played this whole tournament, they haven't really won a lot of games coming into this World Cup and to turn things around and start on the high like that against India. They showed resilience, a lot of character shown. It's going to be a good fight on Sunday and we expect that, so we're really excited for it." - South Africa allrounder Chloe Tryon on what they can expect from New Zealand in the final
"Obviously, we're the grandmas of the team. And yeah, we're still standing, I think. Leah [Tahuhu] with her bionic knee, Sophie just having dealt with a lot of stuff as captain over the last few years and me just keeping on going and going. So yeah, it's just a really special moment when you know there's been some tough times and the three of us in particular have been through the ups and downs and to have that moment and knowing we'd made the semifinals which gives yourself a chance was really special." - New Zealand allrounder Suzie Bates on what it means to make the final with two of her oldest colleagues
Squads:
South Africa Women Squad: Laura Wolvaardt(c), Tazmin Brits, Anneke Bosch, Chloe Tryon, Marizanne Kapp, Sune Luus, Nadine de Klerk, Annerie Dercksen, Sinalo Jafta(w), Nonkululeko Mlaba, Ayabonga Khaka, Tumi Sekhukhune, Ayanda Hlubi, Seshnie Naidu, Mieke de Ridder
New Zealand Women Squad: Suzie Bates, Georgia Plimmer, Amelia Kerr, Sophie Devine(c), Brooke Halliday, Maddy Green, Isabella Gaze(w), Rosemary Mair, Lea Tahuhu, Eden Carson, Fran Jonas, Molly Penfold, Jess Kerr, Hannah Rowe, Leigh Kasperek
New Zealand Women
South Africa Women
