5th ODI, Canterbury
England enjoyed complete dominance in the last game of cricket to be played this season. A large Canterbury crowd enjoying the late September sunshine had the double pleasure of watching their own Tammy Beaumont hit a glorious century to put the game beyond the White Ferns’ reach.
England’s batting has been under the weather this summer. On a plumb track they put matters to rights, flogging a tired attack for their sixth highest total ever.
Lauren Winfield-Hill was the first batter needing to set doubts to rest. She compiled 43, but was given no fewer that four lives in the process. Sadly for her, the choice of an opening partner for Beaumont is thrown open again.
After her glorious hundred last time round, it was almost inevitable that Heather Knight would be strangled down the leg-side for a duck. But the middle-order that has looked so enfeebled in the series came good. Nat Sciver also needed a slice of luck, but New Zealand’s catching let them down badly here. Lauren Down had spilled LW-H early on at backward point, and the contagion spread. Sciver took advantage to play with her customary power and control before falling lbw to Hannah Rowe (39).
Amy Jones (60) too had questions to answer; she added 97 with Beaumont in 14 overs to remind us of her true quality.
Beaumont went to her hundred (111 balls), her eighth for her country, with a series of powerful shots. After she was dismissed for 102, Lisa Keightley will have been delighted to see the new Dunkley-Wyatt axis take a wearied attack to pieces. Sophia Dunkley (33*) looked completely at ease as the game-situation required her to hit the ball to all parts. Danni Wyatt (43*) is surely best employed in this lower middle-order role; her instinct is to attack. As an opener she is vulnerable to seam and swing; when the white kookaburra ball is 40 overs old, it has few tricks left up its sleeve.
England hit 96 runs off the last ten overs as the bowlers hardly knew where to pitch the ball. The crowd got plenty of fielding-practice, so did Katherine Brunt, water-girl today, as the ball followed her unerringly around the boundary.
79 runs off the last 6.2 overs was like one gargantuan meal too many.
The New Zealand Reply
The result was already certain, which is one drawback of the limited-overs game. But we wanted to see how England’s choice of bowlers would fare. The pace attack comprised Anya Shrubsole, Sciver and Kate Cross. Shrubsole had to assure us of her fitness. As we should have expected, she bowled superbly from the Nackington Road end, making expert use of the slope. Crucially she had Suzie Bates caught by the centurion, and Sciver bowled her four overs very economically.
None of the White Fern batters could build a proper innings. Lauren Down and Brooke Halliday both made 27, and Maddy Green at No 3 added 22, but these fell far short of requirements.
Sophie Ecclestone and Kate Cross bowled at tightly as you would expect, Cross claiming her 50th ODI wicket in the process. She has been England’s most dependable bowler this summer and ideally suited to the middle overs, where control is vital.
It was disappointing to see England catch New Zealand’s butter-fingers disease, none other than Sciver twice dropping straightforward chances. Charlie Dean was denied an early wicket by these means, but she impressed once again, claiming the last wicket as the innings crumbled away. She was the most economical of all, taking 1-13 at only 2.44.
Heather Knight gave herself a bowl. To her own bemusement three of her deliveries (how many of them could be called ‘pies’?) captured wickets to give her 3-24 off 5. She does have a future as a cricketer!
It is hard playing to your full potential on the last day of your overseas tour. Try as you might, your thoughts must turn beyond the boundary. Did any players from Christchurch, Canterbury, like Amy Satterthwaite and Lea Tahuhu, feel a stronger pang of home?
The Kiwis gave that impression. They are whole-hearted cricketers who always try their darndest, but they do need all their stars to perform regularly and the rest of the team to do their bit. Once again that was a step too far for them.
With missing players restored to the strength and with a major competition on home soil, they could yet achieve great things in the World Cup next spring.
Result:
England: 347-5 (50 overs)
New Zealand: 144 (35.2 overs)
England won by 203 runs
England take the series 4-1
Teams:
England: Winfield-Hill, Beaumont, Knight (captain), Sciver, Jones (wk), Dunkley, Wyatt, Dean, Ecclestone, Shrubsole, Cross
New Zealand: Down, Bates, Green, Satterthwaite, Devine (captain), Halliday, Martin (wk), Jensen, Rowe, Tahuhu, Penfold
Umpires: Sue Redfern and Paul Pollard
