ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2024: Top 5 performances

The ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2024 just ended as New Zealand Women won their first Women’s T20 World Cup trophy. South Africa Women once again finished as the runners-up, which they recorded in two consecutive editions. 

During the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2024 in the United Arab Emirates, where ten teams participated and 23 matches were played, we experienced some great performances. 

Here, we are going through the top five performances in the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2024.

Megan Schutt (Australia Women): 3/3 (vs New Zealand Women) in Group Stage

It was a crucial Group A match between Australia Women and New Zealand Women. After Australia Women chose to bat first at Sharjah, the six-time champions scored 148/8, which was a challenging total. However, the right-arm medium pacer’s disciplined bowling confirmed the no easy breath for the White Ferns batting.

Starting the second innings with a maiden over,  Megan Schutt dismissed New Zealand opener Georgia Plimmer for only four runs in her second over, where she conceded only two runs. The White Ferns never made a comeback in the chasing as the 31-year-old dismissed set Amelia Kerr (29) in the 12th over of the innings, where she conceded only one run. Schutt returned to bowl the final over, where she dismissed Eden Carson (5) on the second delivery to confirm their victory by 60 runs after bundling out New Zealand Women for 88 runs.

Schutt ended the match with the bowling figures of 3.2-1-3-3, where she delivered 18 dot balls. 

Sophie Devine (New Zealand Women): 57 not out (vs India Women) in Group Stage

It was the first match of the tournament for both New Zealand Women and India Women in Group A. After New Zealand Women captain Sophie Devine chose to bat first at Dubai, they scored 55/0 at the end of the powerplay. However, the White Ferns were struggling after the powerplay.

When Amelia Kerr was dismissed in the 14.2 overs, New Zealand Women scored 99/3. It meant that they scored 44 runs from 50 balls in the post-powerplay. However, set-batter Devine played an inspirational innings that helped New Zealand Women manage the first batting total of 160/4.

Although Devine started slowly by scoring six runs off the first 10 balls, she then hit two consecutive fours in the 13th over. Between the 15th and 16th overs, Devine hit three fours in four balls. In the last four overs, Devine played only one dot ball and added 24 runs in 14 balls, where the right-handed batter hit two fours. Devine ended that innings with 57 not out in 36 balls with the help of seven fours.

In reply, India Women were all out for only 102 runs, where the White Ferns skipper also took three catches. Although Rosemary Mair (4/19) and Lea Tahuhu (3/15) dominated with the ball, captain Devine won the Player of the Match award. 

Hayley Matthews (West Indies Women): 50 runs (vs England Women) in Group Stage

Talking about this match, it was a must-win game for both teams, and both the Caribbean openers Qiana Joseph and captain Hayley Matthews can be considered for this list, but here we are talking about Hayley Matthews rather than the Player of the Match Qiana Joseph.

West Indies Women had a target of 142 runs, and they needed to reach the target faster to earn the top spot of the Group B points table. 

Unlike her opening partner Joseph, who was dropped three times, Matthews’ batting was more solid. After hitting an over-boundary on the second ball of the innings, the Caribbean captain hit two more fours in that first over of the second innings. It set the tone for West Indies Women. She hit four fours in the late part of the powerplay, including three fours in the final four balls of the sixth over. 

After scoring 35 off 19 balls at the end of the powerplay, Matthews continued her dominant batting with Joseph. They had a 102-run partnership for the first wicket, where Matthews completed her 14th T20I fifty in 37 balls. After scoring 50 off 38 balls, Matthews was dismissed. West Indies Women comfortably reached the target in 18 overs after losing only four wickets.  

Anneke Bosch (South Africa Women): 74 not out (vs Australia Women) in Semi-final

Well, you are beating the six-time champions and seven-time finalists in the semi-final, and there is no special performance; it only becomes odd. However, this strange thing is not the case for South Africa Women. 

Chasing down the 135-run target at Dubai, South Africa Women’s in-form opener Tazmin Brits was dismissed early for 15 runs. While the skipper and another opener Laura Wolvaardt required a good partner, the No. 3 batter Anneke Bosch played a stunning innings. Bosch was struggling in the entire tournament as she was failing to manage her strike rate of over 100, but the semifinal match was completely different for her. 

Bosch got a good start as she hit back-to-back two fours while facing the first 10 balls. While she strongly maintained her 100+ strike rate, her batting in the 12th and 13th overs just put the favourites Aussies in a hopeless situation. After hitting one four and one six to Georgia Wareham in the 12th over, she hit two fours to Ashleigh Gardner in the 13th over. 

While Wolvaardt was out after scoring 42 runs, Bosch ensured Proteas’ historic win against Australia Women by scoring 74 not out off 48 balls with the help of eight fours and one six. Without a doubt, it was one of the greatest batting performances in tournament history. 

Amelia Kerr (New Zealand Women): 43 and 3/24 (vs South Africa Women) in Final

New Zealand all-rounder Amelia Kerr was unstoppable in the entire tournament, especially with the ball, where she took at least one wicket in every match. In fact, she picked up at least two wickets in the last five games. With 15 wickets (the most wickets in the tournament) and 135 runs (ninth most run-scorer), Kerr won the Player of the Tournament award. 

In this article, we are talking about her performance in the final, where she won the Player of the Match award for her brilliant all-round performances. After South Africa Women sent the White Ferns to bat first at Dubai, New Zealand Women scored 158/5 in 20 overs. 

Kerr came to bat in the second over and hit a four on the first ball. She then batted patiently till the 14th over, before which she hadn’t hit another boundary. In the 15th over, she hit a four to Nadine de Klerk. In the last five overs of the innings, before Kerr was dismissed in the 19th over, she scored 16 runs in 10 balls with two fours. Nonkululeko Mlaba dismissed Kerr for 43 runs off 38 balls. 

Later in the bowling, Kerr returned with the best bowling figures in the match with 4-0-24-3. She dismissed the in-form captain and set batter Loura Wolvaardt (33) and Anneke Bosch (9) in her second over. In her last over, Annerie Dercksen (10) was caught out at extra cover. South Africa Women only managed to score 126/9, as New Zealand Women won the match by 32 runs.