England v New Zealand – Third ODI
Rain delayed the start at Bristol till 14.35, the game reduced to 42 overs each. England decided to bowl; you might well ask why.
Both sides made changes: Jon Lewis added Lauren Bell and Sophia Dunkley in favour of Sophie Ecclestone and Lauren Filer; Ben Sawyer replaced Fran Jonas and Jess Kerr with Eden Carson and Hannah Rowe.
New Zealand made a cautious start, reaching only 30 by the time the 8-over powerplay was completed. One wicket fell in that time, Georgia Plimmer taking an unwise single to backward-point, where Charlie Dean’s throw was too accurate.
The first of the Kiwis’ batting triumvirate, Suzie Bates (24), fell to a catch by Amy Jones, diving in front of first slip. Once again, Kate Cross’ bowling was a mixture (9-0-46-2); she added no-balls for over-stepping to the ingredients.
Now it would need Melie Kerr and Sophie Devine to make big contributions to ensure a total that would test England’s batting line-up that stretched a long way down. In the event they put on 59 (57 and 43 respectively), but the lack of real depth meant that Brooke Halliday’s 31 later on proved insufficient.
Lauren Bell was the bowler to dismiss all three. Crucially, she trapped Kerr in front, then beat Devine with an inswinger that deflected off the inside-edge. Wnen she had Issy Gaze caught by NSB, it left her the last over to dismiss Lauren Down to claim her first 5-fer. Down obliged by hoisting another mistimed ball into the same pair of hands. Bell (9-0-37-5) was showered in congratulations.
A total of 211 was just enough to cause a few flutters of concern in the crowd. But surely England must win…easily?
The Reply
There was drama first ball, as Issy Gaze dropped an edge off Hannah Rowe in front of Devine at slip. But then Rowe pinned Tammy Beaumont in front and was given out. She didn’t ask for the review that would have saved her.
England crawled to 4 in two overs. In the fifth Maia Bouchier had had enough; she deposited Rowe into the next world. Before the powerplay was over, Heather Knight was on her way back, Rowe holding a return off a top-edged splice. Her scores this series: 9*, 9, 9. Consistency isn’t everything.
Then an even bigger moment: Bouchier edged behind. That was the vital third wicket, seen as a big marker for a win in ODIs. So the state of the market was now: England 33-3 off 8. And a few superstitious people see repeat numbers as a bad omen.
Amelia Kerr took the twelfth over. She thought she had Sophia Dunkley lbw with a beautiful googly, but DRS disagreed. A fourth wicket this early on could have been critical.
NSB loosened the knot a little as she hit two fours off Kerr in the fourteenth. But Kerr took her revenge by dismissing Dunkley, Gaze taking a fine catch off a thin edge.
An Amy Jones 4 brought up the 100, but the hosts weren’t halfway there. That came as Penfold suffered two more fours in the same twentieth over.
Till now Devine had stuck to her four lead overs. In the 22nd over she threw Eden Carson the ball, and she went for eight. That helped bring the current rate well below the target rate.
NSB’s latest 50 came off the last ball of the 25th over. She may possibly be the best cricketer Tokyo has ever produced.
With 40 already against her name, Jones should have been looking safe, but Rowe caused two errors in one over. One mishit fell short of mid-wicket, then Kerr couldn’t hold a chance. The batting pair responded by taking a single of each ball of Carson’s next over.
So long as these two could stay together, the game was safe.
Now at last Devine turned to her sixth bowler, Brooke Halliday. Jones’ 50 came up off 49 balls. The next moment Halliday found the edge of her bat. The fifth wicket had added 90 invaluable runs. England were playing safe by placing Alice Capsey at 7. The moment she was in, Plimmer dropped NSB at extra. Oh dear! Not the first Kiwi error that risked losing another match.
Their bowling tightened the noose again. Two fours were squeezed out of eight overs. The crowd grew restless.
Matters were eased with four overthrows. Capsey was intent on being there at the end, with the target achieved, of course. She wasn’t minded to take chances, but as the train approached the terminus, she hit Penfold for two 4s and two 2s, to leave NSB to see if she could score the winning single. She could.
Scores:
New Zealand 211-8 (A. Kerr 57, Bell 5-37)
England 212-5 (NSB 76*, Jones 50)
England won by five wickets
Player of the Match: Lauren Bell
Player of the Series: Maia Bouchier
Teams
New Zealand 1 Suzie Bates, 2 Georgia Plimmer, 3 Amelia Kerr, 4 Sophie Devine (captain), 5 Maddy Green, 6 Brooke Halliday, 7 Lauren Down, 8 Issy Gaze (wk), 9 Hannah Rowe, 10 Molly Penfold, 11 Eden Carson
England 1 Tammy Beaumont, 2 Maia Bouchier, 3 Heather Knight (captain), 4 Nat Sciver-Brunt, 5 Sophia Dunkley, 6 Amy Jones (wk), 7 Alice Capsey, 8 Charlie Dean, 9 Sarah Glenn, 10 Kate Cross, 11 Lauren Bell
Afterthoughts
On paper this was a convincing win, but the unevenness of the English batting is a concern. One benefit of the top order going early is that is gives the rest of the batters more of a chance to display their wares. They took it, Capsey adding 35* at the end.
As for the bowling, this was a complete turnaround, the seamers hogging all the seven wickets to fall to bowlers. How strange, in a game where Ecclestone was required to watch on.
Capsey may or may not have expected to bowl, but the skipper removed Sarah Glenn after two overs, as she couldn’t find line and length. She returned for three more, but went for 40 runs. Capsey took 0-13 off 3.
That brought a 3-0 win for the hosts. Now for five T20s.
