South Africa Women vs New Zealand Women, Final - Live Cricket Score, Commentary

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. Now the three grandmas (Tahuhu, Bates and Devine) get together for a separate picture of their own with the trophy. 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
Stafanie 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

Stats by Roshan Gede

SA-W run-chase
Overs 1-6: 47/0 (RR: 7.83)
Overs 7-14: 39/5 (RR: 4.88)
Overs 15-20: 40/4 (RR: 6.66)

Longest winning streaks for NZ-W in Women’s T20 WC
5 - 2014-2016
4 - 2010
4 - 2009
4* - 2024

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). What she was able to do tonight was incredible. Physically to do what she did with the bat, pretty sure she can't feel her legs at the moment. She is not a bad cricketer but the person that she is, the world is her oyster. It's scary to think how good she could be. 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. I think 7-11 was probably not our best phase but credit to New Zealand. Very exciting (on the side's future). 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 and I'm stoked to get the win considering what this team's been through. It's what dreams are made of. I thought?the wicket was pretty good but slowed up a bit which I thought was probably not a bad thing with us bowling second. The way Brooke came out and hit, it was an outstanding contribution from everyone with Maddy hitting that six at the end. She (Brooke) took so much pressure off me. I was struggling out there a lot and I was probably finding it a little bit hard to time the ball and she just came out there and hit two pockets and she did it in the semi-final and to do it again in the final is class. It wasn't too bad (on her cramps). I was cramping up while batting but afterwards in the field when I threw the ball I got cramped and found myself hiding in the ring at short third but just grateful that we got the job done. The first ball I bowled I cramped up and I thought I'm not going to be able to bowl this fast today but I think the plans I've had this tournament and the wrong'un coming into play here has helped me have a lot of success as well as the other spin group of our team have been outstanding in the bowling partnership. Bowling's what first got me in the White Ferns and it's something that I've always wanted to keep getting better at. I think I've said it all along throughout the last year, it's the spin group we have - I've never enjoyed bowling so much, they make it so much fun and I'm just enjoying myself when I'm out there. It's always better when you get the big players out. You want to be a big match player. Bowling through those middle overs, it's when the best batters are constructing their innings and if you can make a breakthrough it can push teams back and that's my job. Wickets come and go and thankfully they've come my way this tournament. (on playing with the three seniors and the youngsters together) I absolutely love it. I've played international cricket now for a while so I've got to share the field and experience playing with three of our greats but then to be a similar age to our young ones, it feels like you can build great connections with them all and that's what our team has. They're such special people and I absolutely love playing for the White Ferns and they mean 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 such 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 they 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 (does the heart shape with her hands), 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 tournament, 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. (on the team bonding) 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 (Bates, Devine and Tahuhu), having made the last final 14 years ago, it's amazing. To have them lead the side is just great. Couldn't be more prouder for the older girls.

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 who are impossible to separate at the moment. 37 years old and 35 years old respectively, on the last legs of their careers, and this is the moment they've been waiting for. "We're going to win this thing now," were the prophetic words from Devine after their win against West Indies. And they've been by far the superior side today. 10 losses in a row coming into this tournament. Ten! But none of that matters. There are tears of joy as the players hug each other. Meanwhile, the wait, the agony and the enduring heartbreak continues for South Africa in World Cups. Runners-up in Cape Town last year, finalists in Barbados in the men's, and runners-up here again. They were led by a great batter in Laura Wolvaardt who can't stop scoring runs as captain. They had a champion like Marizanne Kapp in the ranks. Mlaba stepped up at different times, de Klerk and Khaka made their presence felt. But it just wasn't enough. 159 was just too many on a slow pitch where the ball was stopping, and New Zealand's bowlers were too good as they have been all tournament. Take a bow, Amelia Kerr - most wickets in a single edition of the tournament. Take a bow, Brooke Halliday - excellent knocks in both semis and final. Take a bow, New Zealand!

Eden Carson to Mlaba, no run, and they have done it! A moment of catharsis for New Zealand cricket, and indeed for Suzie and Sophie who immediately give each other a big bear hug. The two of them have been through it all right from the inaugural edition in 2009. The ups, the downs, and now finally they're on top of the world. New Zealand are winners of the ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2024. Wide yorker from Carson to wrap it up, and Mlaba can't get anywhere near it. South Africa haven't got anywhere near New Zealand this evening, going down by 32 runs