Around six to seven years ago, there was a Tawa University journal which featured New Zealand cricketer Amelia Kerr as the main story. On the right side of that feature, the eyes zoomed in on a young Amelia. There was something more to notice in that image: She was standing alongside Sophie Devine, another Tawa University product, and the future captain of New Zealand. That particular image echoed in the mind back and forth after she turbo-charged New Zealand to their maiden T20 World Cup triumph in Dubai.
When Amelia was a kid, she had written in an essay that her dream is to win a World Cup alongside Sophie Devine and Suzie Bates, the two stalwarts of the New Zealand set-up. A decade and a half later, as the fireworks blazed away in the night sky of Dubai, Amelia was adjudged the Player of the 2024 World Cup. A few minutes later, she was proudly sitting alongside Devine, one of her inspirations, with the trophy for company. Dreams do come true.
“I just think back to myself as a kid that was batting with Sophie and Suzie in the nets and when I was at primary school in creative writing, I wrote about winning a World Cup with Sophie and Suzie,” she noted in the after-match presser. “So, to be here now, having done that, I think that’s probably why I was so emotional out on the field in the moment.
“It’s something that’s so special, when I think back to my younger self, and to be here now and to do it with two of New Zealand’s best ever.” Meanwhile, Devine described her star spinner as “once-in-a-generation player” and added, “what you’re able to achieve out there is pretty bloody cool”.
Amelia didn’t just get the chance to live her dream, but she was also the twinkling star of the South Africa-New Zealand final. Her fizzing googlies were blended with bowling smarts as she befuddled one South African batter after another.
Lea Tahuhu, the experienced pace bowler, bowled a string of dots in the ninth over, with Anneke Bosch facing those offerings. Somewhere those dots would have played on the mind of Laura Wolvaardt, the South African skipper. The very next over, Amelia decided to employ the subtleties of her experiments. With Wolvaardt looking to keep up with the mounting required rate, she attempted a loft over extra cover, but all she could do was spoon a catch to the fielder. Amelia enticing the batter with a tossed-up delivery had worked wonders.
Behind all those crackerjack googlies is the art of repeating her offerings for a long period of time. It has taken years of hard work for Amelia to chisel out a successful path. Many moons ago, the same Amelia was rigorously perfecting her googly under the watchful eyes of Ivan Tissera, her coach. As she gained a bit of experience, Amelia understood the importance of mixing up the pace and beating the batter with drift and flight. She also added some fizz to her googly.
All those sweaty workshops have paid dividends, as she ended up as the highest wicket-taker of the T20 World Cup. Amelia’s 15 scalps is also a record for a bowler in a single edition of the Women’s T20 World Cup.
Amelia’s stellar performance wasn’t just about those fizzing googlies. She also bowled her overs despite suffering from cramps. To make it a complete performance, the gutsy cricketer had also essayed a vital hand of 43 with the bat. For a while, the right-handed batter seemed to be struggling with her rhythm. But she was willing to wade through the tricky phase with a hope that her fortunes would turn around. It did in the 19th over, when Amelia cracked a sublime inside-out lofted drive.
Melie’ has chased her ambitions with a single-minded focus. On October 20, 2024, one of her dreams was fulfilled: lifting the World Cup along with her heroes, Devine and Bates. The two “grandmas” of New Zealand, especially Bates, were seen dancing to specially arranged music beats as the players made their way to the team bus.
Who knows? Amelia’s game-breaking performance might have just inspired another girl in Wellington or Dunedin or Christchurch to pursue her own fairy tale. Somewhere up there, Bruce Murray, the former New Zealand opener, who refused to play on Sundays for religious reasons, also would be proud of his granddaughter’s achievements.