In a event that has been dominated by low scores on bowler-friendly surfaces, it was New Zealand’s batting intent from the start that was instantly eye-catching.
When opener Georgia Plimmer skipped down the pitch to Marizanne Kapp’s second ball – regardless of lacking – the message was clear. They weren’t going to die questioning.
Plimmer finally fell for 9 and Bates added 32, earlier than Kerr and Devine have been tasked with the rebuilding effort after slightly wobble to 53-2.
However when Devine was lbw to De Klerk for six within the eleventh over, there was a hazard of New Zealand losing their constructive begin, the place that they had performed with such freedom and located the boundary repeatedly with little signal of any big-occasion nerves.
Kerr held agency, steadily rotating the strike at a run-a-ball whereas Halliday performed extra expansively round her, consistently pushing twos even when the boundaries weren’t flowing. This saved the strain on South Africa’s bowlers, who have been struggling for consistency for the primary time within the event.
After Halliday’s departure, Kerr was rewarded for her endurance as she thumped back-to-back boundaries off Nonkululeko Mlaba within the penultimate over, earlier than Ayabonga Khaka’s horror last over conceded 16 – together with the sport’s solely six from Inexperienced – to place New Zealand firmly within the driving seat.
The scoreboard strain did the remaining as South Africa wilted, unable to capitalise on Wolvaardt’s knock, with Kerr taking her event tally to fifteen – a brand new file in a Ladies’s T20 World Cup, beating England’s Anya Shrubsole and Australian Megan Schutt’s earlier file of 13.
New Zealand’s elation was heartbreakingly juxtaposed by South Africa’s despair, falling quick on the last hurdle as soon as extra because the nation’s agonising look forward to a world cricket title – males’s or girls’s – continues.