Just when it looked like the T20 World Cup was progressing according to the well-known script, the leading actors fluffed their lines – or had the words taken out of their mouths by the West Indies and South Africa.
It was a shock when Hayley Matthews’s team from the Caribbean hammered England by six wickets in what was effectively a quarterfinal but nowhere near as stunning as South Africa’s eight-wicket demolition of six-time champions and perennial finalists, Australia, in the first of the semifinals.
Suddenly, against most odds, the two pre-tournament favourites were gone and the Women’s game was opened up to a brand new era in which the final was contested by two teams who had never won the World Cup before.
Truly, the Women’s game is evolving, expanding and improving at a glorious pace.
That the best team in the world and, in many opinions, the two next best did not reach the semifinals is sad for Australia, England and India, but immensely exciting for the rest of the world and the progress being made by other teams.
They are catching up – or perhaps they have caught up!
Laura Wolvaardt’s team were far from their best in the final but that should not detract from a remarkable performance from New Zealand’s White Ferns who completed a turnaround in form to compare with any sport – they lost 10 consecutive T20Is before the tournament began and walked away as champions.
Neil Manthorp reviews the tournament.
Top player: Every single one of these categories are too hard to separate but we’ll name the runners and riders and go for a ‘lucky dip’.
It’s hard to look past Marizanne Kapp in big tournaments and it’s not just her amazing statistics.
The mere fact that she was ‘next in’ imbued Anneke Bosch with the belief and confidence to play the innings of the tournament in the semifinal against Australia.
Kapp doesn’t always take wickets with the new ball (she mostly does) but she’s stifling the run-rate if she isn’t, which applies just as much pressure.
She is amazing with the bat. Best allrounder in the world. Enough said.
New Zealand’s captain, Sophie Devine, scored an unbeaten 57 from 36 balls to help her team to a total of 160-4 and a surprise victory by 58 runs against India in their opening match.
At the age of 35, having realised a dream, she relinquished the captaincy amidst the celebrations and handed a champagne-soaked baton over to a new generation, including Amelia Kerr who top-scored with 43 in the final and then claimed 3-24 to seal both player of the match and player of the tournament.
Top bowler: Nonkululeka Mlaba enjoyed an outstanding tournament with 12 wickets at an average of just 11.3 and an economy rate of 5.6 runs per over.
Kapp claimed five wickets in her six matches but an economy rate of just 4.63 – one of the lowest in the tournament – was testament to the respect she commands from all opposition batters.
But the top bowler was Kerr with 15 wickets to go with her 135 runs.
Top batter: Captain Wolvaardt is all too aware of how much her team relies on a good start and she provided it, along with fellow opener Tazmin Brits, in every game.
They were comfortably the highest run-scorers in the tournament, Wolvaardt (223) the only batter to breach 200 and Brits (187) over 30 ahead of third-placed Englishwoman, Dani Wyatt-Hodge who scored 151.
India’s captain, Harmanpreet Kaur, scored 150 – at an average of 150 – including a stunning 52 from just 27 balls against Sri Lanka.
Outstanding team: Australia. Until they were walloped by the Proteas. And then South Africa, until New Zealand completed the most fairytale of sporting stories.
The outstanding team is the one which lasts the distance, which is exactly what the White Ferns did, against most predictions and most odds.
Top SA player: Marizanne Kapp is comfortably the best allrounder in the game. Even in a quiet tournament, which this was by her standards, her numbers are impressive.
There were calls for her to bat at No 3 rather than four - as well as open the bowling. Some people are never satisfied!
But Wolvaardt and Mlaba share this honour, this time.
Best match: It was a tournament of walloping one-siders rather than nail-biters which isn’t necessarily a bad thing – especially when the underdogs are doing the walloping.
England’s last over victory against South Africa had many believing this would be predictable tournament but, as it happened, England weren’t skillfully pacing themselves over the line but stumbling nervously across it.
The final was one of the closer contests and even that was pretty one-sided in the end.
Best individual performance: Anneke Bosch and her unbeaten 74 from just 48 balls in the semifinal against Australia will be talked about and remembered for a long time.
Promoted to No 3 ahead of Kapp at the start of the tournament she responded with a couple of lukewarm innings and looked anything but the ‘touchstone’ SA were looking for.
But when the biggest moment in her career arrived, she delivered in spectacular style.
Mention too for Australia opening bowler, Megan Schutt, who claimed 3-12 against Asia Cup champions Sri Lanka to overtake South Africa’s Shabnim Ismail as the leading wicket-taker in T20 World Cups.
But Amelia Kerr’s performance with bat and bat and ball in the final was comfortably the best individual performance.
Top Talking Point: Boundaries and pitches. The first were too big and the second too low and slow.
The tournament was moved from strife-torn Bangladesh at short notice but still, surely the pitches could have been more conducive to entertainment?
But the biggest talking point was not the ‘demise’ of the ‘big two’ – Australia and England – but the thrill of the others finally catching up.
Quote of the week: “A lot of us really thought this was our opportunity. I think we probably let them score a few too many with the bat. They came out with some real intent and it caught us on the back foot a little bit. We thought we could ride it out, hopefully score a wicket or two, but they just kept going, rotated really well.
"The girls are really, really disappointed, especially after the cricket that we played in the semifinal, we thought we could do the same in the final and just didn't show up on the day."
