"We allowed them to score a bit too much...": South Africa captain Wolvaardt following the defeat to New Zealand in the Women's T20 World Cup final.

Dubai (UAE), October 21: After her team's heartbreaking defeat to New Zealand in the ICC Women's T20 World Cup final, South Africa captain Laura Wolvaardt acknowledged that they allowed their opponents to score "a bit too many runs."

Wolvaardt expressed her disappointment as her team narrowly missed out on victory for the second consecutive year, having previously finished as runners-up to Australia on home soil last year. The Proteas struggled to chase New Zealand's total of 158/5 at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, ultimately finishing with 126/9.

She noted that South Africa was caught off guard by the aggressive start from New Zealand, particularly from top-order players Suzie Bates and Amelia Kerr, who scored freely during the Powerplay, putting the Proteas on the defensive. 

"I think we probably let them score a bit too many with the bat," Wolvaardt said. "They came out with some real intent, which caught us off guard. We thought we could ride it out and take a wicket or two, but they just kept going and rotated the strike well."

Wolvaardt pointed out that New Zealand had a strong finish in the last five or six overs, increasing their run rate, while admitting that the South African bowling was "a bit off." She also mentioned that after a good Powerplay, the team lost momentum.

Despite the loss, Wolvaardt highlighted the positives from their campaign, noting that both she and Tazmin Brits finished as the tournament's top run-scorers, with 223 and 187 runs respectively. Additionally, only Kerr took more wickets than South African spinner Nonkululeko Mlaba, who finished with 12 wickets.

Wolvaardt expressed optimism for the future, emphasizing the achievement of reaching the final for the second consecutive year, especially with a younger squad. "It's disappointing, but we still came second in a tournament with many teams, so we had a good campaign," she said. "Reaching two back-to-back finals shows that we are doing something right."

In the match itself, South Africa won the toss and chose to field first. Bates scored a vital 32 runs, and a 57-run partnership between Kerr (43 runs) and Brooke Halliday (38 runs) helped New Zealand set a challenging target of 158/5. For South Africa, Wolvaardt scored 33 runs off 27 balls, but the team lost wickets in quick succession, leading to their total of 126/9. Kerr and Rosemary Mair were the standout bowlers for New Zealand, each taking three wickets.

Kerr was named the 'Player of the Match' for her impressive all-round performance.