While a T20 World Cup final represents a prime opportunity to inspire young children to start playing cricket, this one in particular carries important meaning for another group - women in their mid-to-late 30s who are not ready to give up on sport. And nor should they, says Suzie Bates.
Bates, New Zealand's 37-year-old opening batter - and sometimes closing bowler, says she is proud to fly the flag for women against "ageist" attitudes.
"I probably take it for granted, but the fact that I'm over 35 and still competing and that I've never given up on my dream, I think as females you do feel societal pressure to give up on pursuing your dreams," Bates said. "People expect you to do other things at a certain age, and that is what is so exciting about women's sport, it is just growing and growing and we are breaking down barriers every single day.
"It's not just the young players, it's players in our team coming back after having children. I've even been in the team with two parents [Amy Satterthwaite and Lea Tahuhu] who are able to have a career and have children. I just think we can be a little bit ageist and even more so with females in terms of what they can and can't do. So I'm happy to wave that flag.
"I keep myself young by hanging out with people who are a lot younger. When I hang out with people my same age, I'm like, 'oh yeah, that's right, grow up!' But there's a lot of potential to challenge those notions. At the end of the day, age becomes a factor, but as long as you can keep contributing, it shouldn't matter."
She was speaking on the eve of Sunday's T20 World Cup title clash in Dubai, where New Zealand will play last year's runners-up South Africa, guaranteeing a new champion.
But throughout almost three weeks of competition, many stories involving players approaching the age of 40 and performing at the highest level have come up.
New Zealand have Bates, 35-year-old captain Sophie Devine, and seam bowler Tahuhu, who just turned 34 but whom Bates jokingly considers a fellow "grandma" of the team.
Legspinner Afy Fletcher, who was part of the West Indies side knocked out in the semi-finals by New Zealand, is a 37-year-old mother to a toddler. She ended the tournament with ten wickets, which before the final was equal to Nonkululeko Mlaba of South Africa and just two behind leading wicket-taker Amelia Kerr of New Zealand, drawing praise from coach Shane Deitz for her ability to reinvent herself as a bowler at this point in her career.
"Age is just a number for Afy, so we don't worry about her age," Deitz said. "Our bowling coach, Ryan Austin, has done a really good job with her. They sat down and had a chat early in the year… he challenged her to be the highest wicket-taker for this year in the team.
"She really took that on board and got more variations and she's worked really, really hard on her fitness and all aspects of her game and batting as well. And now she's got a few more years left in her, I hope."
Pakistan's Nida Dar will turn 38 in January, India captain Harmanpreet Kaur is 35 and Sri Lanka have three bowlers - Inoshi Priyadharshani, Inoka Ranaweera and Udeshika Prabodhani - aged 37, 38 and 39 respectively.
But age and experience has done nothing to dampen the excitement of taking her team into a first World Cup final in 14 years for Bates, at least not once the tension of an eight-run win over West Indies had eased.
"It wasn't actually until today when I went and had a swim in the beach that it hit me and I got a bit teary-eyed," Bates said. "With the adrenaline and everything that's going on, you're in a bit of shock.
"If you've been a White Ferns fan while I've been in the team, there's been a lot of ups and downs, highs and lows, and they've ridden that rollercoaster with you. So we're carrying those emotions, that they've got something to celebrate as well as us."
The celebrations are all the sweeter now, not only because New Zealand came into this tournament on a ten-game losing streak, but the fact that they failed to get out of the group stages in their home ODI World Cup in 2022.
"When you get one opportunity in a career to have a home World Cup and you don't quite nail it, that comes with a lot of disappointment," Bates said. "We had a really great fan base during that World Cup and we had some really tight matches and we were so close to getting through to that semi-final stage, so personally that's really motivating.
"Especially from where we've come from, when a team's been able to bounce back after ten losses in a row, the pride and the resilience that we have as a group makes it so special and we've never given up on each other.
"And that's the support staff, [head coach] Ben Sawyer, he's been through the wringer trying to get this team believing in themselves, and a huge credit has to go to him for just keeping on backing that same group when results weren't coming our way."
As this will certainly be Devine's last T20I as captain following her decision to hand over the team to the next generation of leaders, New Zealand's desire for her to sign off with a title burns bright.
"When you play team sport, your goal, your ultimate goal is to be a world champion," Bates said. "It's been all those tournaments that have motivated me, and I know Sophie as well. It feels like it's just all built to this moment and we get one more opportunity tomorrow to have a good dig. The most overwhelming thing about it was it has felt like a really long journey to get back to this point."
New Zealand cricket and women's sport is all the richer for the fact that players like Bates have stuck around for so long.