Devine hails special triumph as White Ferns make history
Media release
Outgoing New Zealand skipper Sophie Devine admitted her side’s ICC Women’s T20 World Cup triumph was ‘hard to put into words’ as she ended her tenure in the best possible fashion.
Devine became the first White Ferns captain to lift the trophy after leading her side to a 32-run victory over South Africa in the final.
The 35-year-old played in both New Zealand’s previous final defeats in this competition, in 2009 and 2010, narrowly missing out on guiding her side home against Australia in the latter.
It was fitting, therefore, that Devine – alongside longstanding teammates Suzie Bates and Lea Tahuhu, dubbed ‘the three grandmas’ by the captain – helped her country make history as the side who arrived unfancied having lost 10 T20Is in a row shocked the world in Dubai.
“I started to let myself dream a little bit last night about what it would be like to hold that trophy up in front of that team,” she said.
“I didn’t want to get too far ahead of myself but it’s hard to put into words what it means, not just for me but for this group of players, some of the players within this group, Suz and Lea, and for New Zealand cricket as well.
“The great thing about this group is we’ve known what we’ve been trying to achieve for the last 12, 18, 24 months.
“Results haven’t gone our way but we know we’ve been building in the right direction. We played the two best teams in the world for 14 or 15 games in a row, it was a steep learning curve but we kept taking steps in the right direction.
“You want momentum but we have rewritten that a little bit, coming off 10 losses in a row. Everyone starts a World Cup on zero and it’s anyone’s game. To be standing here now is pretty special.”
New Zealand’s victory was emblematic of their tournament as a whole, with varying members of the team stepping up when it mattered.
Bates’ inventive 32 set the tone at the top of the order, Brooke Halliday made a 28-ball 38 and Rosemary Mair took three wickets in reply.
But there was special praise for the White Ferns’ woman of the moment, Amelia Kerr, after her latest starring performance with bat and ball.
The 24-year-old top-scored with 43 in New Zealand’s 158 for five and took three wickets, including the key scalps of Laura Wolvaardt and Anneke Bosch, to extend her tournament tally to a record 15 and to claim the Player of the Match and Player of the Tournament double.
“She is a once-in-a-generation player and what she was able to do tonight was incredible,” Devine added.
“Physically, to come out there and do what she was able to do with the bat - I don’t think she can feel her legs at the moment - it just shows such grit and resilience.
“She is obviously a great cricketer but I’m also so proud of the person she is and the way she is around the group. The world is her oyster and it’s scary to think how good she could be.”
South Africa captain Wolvaardt, who finished as the tournament’s highest run scorer, was left to rue a second consecutive final defeat in this competition.
Her opening stand of 51 inside seven overs with Tazmin Brits gave the Proteas hope but their chase faded after Kerr’s quickfire double breakthrough.
“We let them score a few too many, they put a lot of pressure on us with the bat,” she said.
“At the halfway stage, we were still backing ourselves to chase 150-odd. We thought it was game on after that (the powerplay) but they really put the squeeze on after that and between (overs) 7-11 was not our best phase. Credit to them, they bowled well.
“We have some very experienced players and some awesome youngsters coming through as well.
“We’ll keep building, go back to the drawing board and hopefully have a good next World Cup.”
ENDS