New Zealand's players celebrate after the dismissal of West Indies' Aaliyah Alleyne during the ICC Women's T20 World Cup cricket semi-final match between New Zealand and West Indies at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium in Sharjah on 18 October, 2024. Photo: FADEL SENNA / AFP
The White Ferns are into the final of the T20 Cricket World Cup for the first time in 14 years after defeating the West Indies in a close semi-final in Sharjah.
New Zealand will now play South Africa in the finals in the early hours of Monday (New Zealand Time). Neither side has won the Cup before.
After beating the West Indies in a low scoring final, a pumped captain Sophie Devine told Sky Sport: "We're going to win this thing now.
"To be able to go this deep into the tournament, I'm now really excited about this last match.
"We are in a good place. We will celebrate tonight. But we're going to win this thing now."
Batting first New Zealand scored 128 from their 20 overs with Georgia Plimmer top scoring on 33.
New Zealand lost their last six wickets for 31 runs but Devine believed they had a defendable total on the board.
"I thought probably our last two or three overs saved our bacon a little bit there I thought we were looking at a bit under par but the way Izzy [Gaze] batted at the end there and scraped through a few extra runs we thought 130 would be a competitive total it probably wasn't what we quite thought par was but we know here I think the highest winning chase is 127 so we knew we were in with a great shout," Devine told Sky Sport.
West Indies all-rounder Deandra Dottin starred with both bat and ball, taking 4-22 and smashing 33 runs of her own but the West Indies fell eight runs short of New Zealand's total.
New Zealand's spin bowlers Eden Carson (3-29) and Amelia Kerr (2-14) kept the West Indies batting on the back foot throughout their innings, regularly taking wickets.
Carson ran through the top order ensuring that the West Indies never really got going until Dottin tried to lift the Windies over the line. She hit three massive sixes to breathe life into the challenge.
When she went caught by Fran Jonas off Kerr, it was too much for the West Indies who were left needing 15 from the final over.
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