In their 2024 Women’s T20 World Cup semi-final matchup against New Zealand, the West Indies required 15 runs from the last over, with Suzie Bates receiving the ball from her opponent. Suzie got Zaida James out after she struck a four off the opening ball, and by giving up only two runs on the remaining three balls, she helped New Zealand reach the final for the first time since 2010.

The tournament’s top wicket-taker, leg-spinner Amelia Kerr, said that she instructed captain Sophie Devine to have Suzie bowl the last over, which she feels turned into a Michael Jordan moment for the White Ferns.

“I murmured, ‘Suzie,’ as I glanced at her. She stated to Sophie, “I think you should bowl,” adding, “I want to bowl it.” It’s very important that your captain and most-capped player step up once again at that precise time. She’s a kind of last-over expert, has done it for us previously, and goes by Michael Jordan. When the game was over, Amelia said, “I think that was a Michael Jordan moment.”

New Zealand have just one victory in 13 Twenty20 Internationals before this year’s competition. However, with strong performances from both seasoned and youthful players, New Zealand is now in the running for the championship. To win the trophy, they will need to defeat South Africa in Sunday’s Dubai final.

“Although it has been a difficult year, I believe it says a lot about the group’s character and members. While we didn’t win those difficult series against two elite teams in England and Australia, the quantity of knowledge we gained from them was substantial.”

“Losses can dent your confidence but coming to a World Cup you want to stay positive and believe that you can win any game and hopefully those losses made us better; I think they 100 percent have,” Amelia said.

The only players still standing from New Zealand’s 2010 T20 World Cup team that lost to Australia in the Barbados final on a last-ball basis are Suzie and Sophie. Lea Tahuhu and the two will likely have one more chance to add a World Cup trophy to their storied international careers on Sunday in Dubai’s final.

“As a group, I think we’ve been through a lot, but also the fact that (Suzie, Sophie and Lea) played so many years before us, they’ve been through so much, they’ve been through the game where they played it for nothing, they’ve gone through the semi-professional phase to now being professional and so I guess the memories they’ve had together is pretty special.”

“As a young player in this group that’s been around a while now, I would love to have the opportunity to help win a World Cup for them, because of what they’ve done for New Zealand cricket and for our players,” said Amelia.