Women’s T20 WC: Bates bowling final over was a Michael Jordan moment, says Kerr

Sharjah, Oct 19 (IANS) West Indies needed 15 runs off the last over in their 2024 Women’s T20 World Cup semi-final against New Zealand, who in turn handed the ball to Suzie Bates. Despite Zaida James hitting a first-ball four, Suzie managed to get her out and give away only two runs on the last three balls to help New Zealand reach the final for the first time since 2010.

Leg-spinner Amelia Kerr, the tournament’s leading wicket-taker, revealed she told captain Sophie Devine to have Suzie bowl the last over, which she believes became a Michael Jordan moment for the white ferns.

“I looked at Suzie and said, ‘Suzie I think you should bowl,’ and she said to Sophie, ‘bowl me, I want to bowl it’. That’s huge from your leader, your most capped player, to step up again in that moment. She’s done it before for us, she’s a bit of a last-over specialist and she likes to call herself Michael Jordan. I think that was a Michael Jordan moment,” said Amelia after the match ended.

Before this year’s tournament, New Zealand had just one win from 13 T20Is. But with impressive performances from both experienced and young players, New Zealand are now on the cusp of winning the title and need to get past South Africa in Sunday’s final at Dubai to realise their dream of winning the silverware.

“It’s been a tough year, but I think it speaks volumes of the character and the people in the group. Those series were tough, and they were against England and Australia who are both two world-class teams, but although we didn’t win the amount of learnings we took from them (was significant).”

“Losses can dent your confidence but coming to a World Cup you want to stay positive and believe that you can win any game and hopefully those losses made us better, I think they 100 per cent have,” added Amelia.

Suzie and Sophie are the only remaining members from New Zealand’s 2010 T20 World Cup squad that suffered a last-ball defeat to Australia in the final at Barbados. Sunday’s final at Dubai is probably the last shot for the duo along with Lea Tahuhu in adding a World Cup silverware to their illustrious international careers.

“As a group, I think we’ve been through a lot, but also the fact that (Suzie, Sophie and Lea) played so many years before us, they’ve been through so much, they’ve been through the game where they played it for nothing, they’ve gone through the semi-professional phase to now being professional and so I guess the memories they’ve had together is pretty special.”

“As a young player in this group that’s been around a while now, I would love to have the opportunity to help win a World Cup for them, because of what they’ve done for New Zealand cricket and for our players,” concluded Amelia.

–IANS

nr/ab