Follow UsSouth African skipper Laura Wolvaardt didn’t bat an eye when she won the toss and put New Zealand into bat first in the Women’s T20 World Cup 2024 final. And, at 70/3 in the 11th over of the innings, that decision seemed to be highly vindicated, as New Zealand found it quite tricky to keep the innings going.
But that’s where 28-year-old Brooke Halliday walked into the match and turned it around like it was a flick of a switch. During her 28-ball stay at the crease, the left-hander smacked 38 runs, providing impetus to New Zealand’s innings, taking them to 158/5. Two deliveries into her stay at the crease, she smacked a ball down the leg side for three valuable runs.
The left-hander used her crease to the fullest extent, cutting the ball through the offside and sweeping it through the leg side. 13 deliveries in, Halliday provided the much-needed impetus for the White Ferns, with a boundary wide of the mid-wicket fielder Tazmin Brits. It wasn’t just a shot, it was almost as precise as a surgeon’s cut.
One delivery later, she yet again found the boundary with ease, pushing her score to 21 off 14 deliveries before showing her prowess through the off-side. Halliday cut one through the gap in the off-side as New Zealand pushed themselves to 158/5.
"Kind of my role, I think. Trying to go out there and be proactive. Was just trying to support Amelia out there who was struggling a little bit when I went out there. It's lower and slower, spin bowling is going to be key for us," Halliday said after the innings.
"Also, changes of pace with seam bowling. Once we get through the powerplay and we get to keep four out, that's when we will see the perks of our total being 158."
It was the second-highest total in a Women’s T20 World Cup final, thanks to the 57-run partnership between Melie Kerr and Halliday. If not for Halliday’s power in the second half of the innings (overs 11-20), where she has smashed nine fours in the competition, New Zealand might have struggled to make a late surge. Even in the semi-final against West Indies, it was the left-hander's invaluable contribution (18 off 9) that eventually led the White Ferns into the final
But will this total be enough to take them to their maiden T20 World Cup title?
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