On Sunday, October 20, the White Ferns scripted history as they won their first-ever T20 World Cup in their third final with a comfortable 32-run win over the Proteas.
The win in the final was anchored by an all-round performance from Amelia Kerr who top-scored in the match with 43(38) and 3/24 with the ball. She bagged both, Player of The Match and Player of The Tournament awards for her consistent performances throughout the edition of the World Cup.
Coming into the tournament, New Zealand had lost 11 international games on the trot, including a 5-0 series defeat against England followed by a 3-0 defeat against Australia and didn’t find themselves on anyone’s list of tournament favorites when they reached the UAE. However, come the T20 World Cup, the team switched on and went all guns blazing from the word go.
The 2000-born, Amelia Kerr found herself in the thick of things throughout the World Cup. She started the campaign with a 1/19 in their opener when they comprehensively bowled India out for 102, winning the match by 58 runs. She backed up her performance with an outstanding 4/26 against the defending champions alongside 29 runs with the bat which unfortunately came in a losing cause.
When New Zealand found their backs against the wall after a huge loss against the Aussies, Kerr took the responsibility and stepped up to the occasion in every game. She took 2 for just 13 runs in 4 overs against Sri Lanka with 34* during the chase. She continued to impress when she took 3/14 against Pakistan to take them through to the knockouts.
Against the West Indies in the semi-final, she bowled another difference-making spell of 2/14 where she also dismissed Deandra Dottin who was cruising with the chase with her 33(22) that helped the White Ferns to go past the Caribbean side by just 8 runs.
As Amelia Kerr finished the tournament at an incredible economy of just 4.85, she also created the record of most wickets in a single edition of a Women’s T20 World Cup (15).
Following their first-ever win against the odds, Kerr opened up about how she was inspired by Sophie Devine and Suzie Bates in the 2010 World Cup when she would hit the nets with her dad, imagining batting with Bates and Devine.
The 10-year-old Kerr, in her primary school creative writing, had mentioned a dream of winning the World Cup with two of her role models Suzie and Sophie and boy, she did it in some fashion.
She made her debut at just 16 and had already impressed all the fraternity around the world. She had already scored a double hundred in ODIs, and won the inaugural WPL with valiant efforts but being the linchpin in ending the nation’s wait of a T20 World Cup was a dream come true.
As she carried the White Ferns to the title, she hoped that she had inspired another generation of Kiwi girls to take up the sport and believe in themselves to achieve great things and I kid you not, she did, and the world took a note of it. The 10-year-old Amelia in the nets with her dad would be on the moon if someone had told her what she was going to achieve 14 years later.
At just 24, she has the world at her feet and a significant amount of time left in her career. With already over 150 internationals under her belt, she might as well take up the leadership role of the White Ferns soon and achieve greater things. Amelia Kerr is fantastic and a force to reckon with, with both bat and ball in her hands. She is a match-winner.
