NEWS
Follow UsMelie Kerr, who started as a New Zealand cricketer in 2016 as a 16-year-old was the most ecstatic of all cricketers in the White Ferns camp that lifted their maiden T20 World Cup on October 20 (Sunday), beating South Africa in the final in Dubai.
However, more than just winning the cup, for the now 24-year-old Kerr, it was about winning it for and with two of New Zealand’s greatest cricketers Sophie Devine and Suzie Bates.
“When I was at primary school in creative writing, I wrote about winning a World Cup with Sophie and Suzie. So, to be here now, having done that, I think that's probably why I'm so emotional at the moment,” a nostalgic Kerr said in the post-match press conference.
However, it was the lines that followed which made Devine, sitting by her side nearly speechless.
“I don't necessarily believe you deserve things in sport, but if any two people do, it's Sophie and Suzie. And I just think back to myself as a kid that was batting with Sophie and Suzie in the nets,” Kerr added, while also narrating how she picked up a bat in her backyard after seeing Bates and Devine play the World Cup final in 2010.
Devine, who, on her part denied that she is not retiring at all and is already looking forward to the ODI World Cup in India in a year’s time, hoped that this win inspired people back home.
“I'm hopeful that tonight's victory can inspire the next generation of not just young girls but young boys as well to pick up a cricket bat, a cricket ball,” she said.
This was New Zealand’s maiden T20 World Cup, but second World Cup win for the White Ferns who won the ODI Trophy way back in 200. The men are yet to win the top title in the white-ball cricket.
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