The significance of the White Ferns' Commonwealth Games bronze medal was clear to see in their captain Sophie Devine, who held back tears after her side's eight wicket victory over England at Edgbaston.
Devine, 32, was the star of New Zealand's run chase, scoring an unbeaten 51 from 40 balls, to go with figures of 2/11 with the ball, as the White Ferns chased down 111 runs to beat their hosts for the bronze medal.
The win capped the White Ferns' first tournament under new coach Ben Sawyer, who was appointed after New Zealand's unsuccessful World Cup campaign, where they failed to reach the semi-finals on home soil.
As a player who's endured as many lows as any New Zealand cricketer, Devine couldn't have written a better script to take the bronze medal.
Even though, by her own admission, the White Ferns came to Birmingham hunting gold, the bronze was just reward for a side looking to rebuild.
Speaking post-match, Devine's emotion was evident, with former teammates Katey Martin and Amy Sattherthwaite - who both retired after the World Cup disappointment - among those cheering the White Ferns to victory.
And for Devine, it's the support of those who've gone before as well as that of the current side that have made the Birmingham campaign so successful for the White Ferns.
"Having my folks in the stands and just being through what we have," Devine said.
"I love New Zealand Cricket, I love cricket. To play for my country and to be able to share it with this group of people - and it's not just this current group of people.
"To have Katey Martin screaming from the crowd - still yelling louder than 20-odd thousand people, you can still hear her bloody voice. It doesn't matter where she is in the world.
"To have Amy and [daughter] Grace there, that's what makes this group so special.
"It's not the colour that we wanted, but [I'm] just so proud. Just a huge thanks to everyone that supported us.
"We haven't always been the best, but we just give it bloody everything. We want to do the country proud, we want to make our family proud and our friends proud.
"So hopefully we've done that today and we'll hopefully continue to do that moving forward."
Devine also credited the rest of New Zealand's Birmingham contingent for inspiration, as Aotearoa has so far enjoyed its most successful single Commonwealth Games campaign - with 19 gold medals to date to go with 12 silver and 16 bronze.
"To be part of such a successful New Zealand group, to see so many Kiwis bringing home the medals, it just does motivate you to want to do well.
"It's been unbelievable to be able to come into this for the first time ever and just to feel the love really, feel part of team New Zealand and what it means to be a Kiwi.
"It's just so special. Around the village, little things we do so well that I don't think other countries do.
"It's just such a sense of pride to be little old New Zealand in the corner of the world.
"Representing here and to do so well as part of a wider group is just really special."
