Lewis shows his hand
Jon Lewis chose his team with the Bangladesh World Cup as his first priority. Hence he opted for four (4!) spinners, and that excludes Alice Capsey. He added Linsey Smith to the established trio.
That left Nat Sciver-Brunt and a recovering Freya Kemp as the captain’s only seam alternatives.
Danni Wyatt decided early on it was her day. She took a four from the first ball of Fran Jonas’ spin – a brave call by Sophie Devine.
Maia Bouchier continued her golden form, and 32 were on the board in four overs. The 50 followed two overs later, and the huge crowd could sit back, expecting another ritual slaughter.
Cricket doesn’t work like that. Their optimism was halted as Bouchier (32/26) tried one big hit too many, to be caught in the deep off Lea Tahuhu’s bowling; a heartening return to cricket for her after the birth of her second child.
Batters did not appear in the published order; instead Nat Sciver-Brunt took her rightful place at No 3, and took six off the first two deliveries she faced.
At the halfway stage England had 82 on the board and, worryingly for the Kiwis, had lost only that single wicket. Devine turned to Eden Carson. Wyatt responded with the first six of the match; 16 off that one over, and the 100 achieved.
It was a spell of play when you were glad to be sitting in the crowd, not invited to bowl. NSB was going at two runs per ball, and Wyatt couldn’t decide which part of the boundary she liked scoring into best.
By the three-quarter mark Devine was hunting for the bowler who could produce the magic ball.
Carson couldn’t hang on to two chances in the field, then a delivery from Melie Kerr beat everything except the long-stop boundary board.
As England attempted to go even faster, errors were bound to occur. In the 16th NSB fell (47/23), lofting a ball to deep mid-wicket.
Interestingly it was Kemp who now came in, her left-handedness as well as her striking-power deemed the best way forward. She did her assigned job well, scoring 26* off 17.
In the 18th over Wyatt was the last to be dismissed. Hers was a dominant 76 off a mere 51 balls (eleven 4s, one 6). By then the hosts’ 169-3 was already a distance beyond anything the White Ferns were likely to score.
Devine took the last over, but only added to her burden by bowling a wide no-ball to Kemp, as she moved across the crease to confuse the bowler. It summed the Kiwis’ showing thus far.
The Reply
With the prominence given to the spinners, it was curious seeing NSB open the attack, with Kemp taking the second over.
I wonder if England’s medical and physio team had their fingers crossed, as they saw the young left-armer’s back come under real pressure. It had caused her so much trouble. When Heather Knight gave her a second over, Suzie Bates hoisted her for six. She returned near the end to return 4-0-31-1.
Bates was in fine form (43/33), but Georgia Plimmer’s running between wickets remained fallible. In the second over NSB’s throw brought her third run-out on tour. The Kiwis simply couldn’t afford errors of that sort.
Knight sensibly gave Smith first go among the spinners. She went for eight runs, then it was Charlie Dean’s turn. She conceded two fours to Bates and Melie Kerr. Sophie Ecclestone was cheered as she came on, but her first two balls went for 3 and 4. She wasn’t to enjoy one of her best days.
New Zealand had their 50 up in seven overs. It was time for England’s next spinner off the assembly-line, Sarah Glenn.
It is strange the way form comes and goes. Today it was Glenn who carried all before her (4-0-16-3). But first, Dean had the dangerous Kerr caught by Bouchier in the deep. (63-2)
Now the fun started; only for the visitors it was an all too familar tale of disaster. The total dissolved from 63-1 to 68-6 in less time than it takes to go and fetch an ice-cream.
The tenth over saw Glenn remove Bates first ball, then Maddy Green off the second. She came down the track and missed. Off the last ball of the same over Devine hit the ball deep to long-on, into the hands of Bouchier again. Three wickets in one over!
Ecclestone had to have at least one say in proceedings. She drew Issy Gaze down the track, the ball turned past the bat, and Amy Jones could deal with that with her eyes closed.
Now at last the Kiwis showed real fight. Jess Kerr, not known for her batting prowess, posted her highest score with a pugnacious 38 off 26, and Tahuhu kept her company (17/15) adding 43 in 5.3 overs. But the damage had long since been done.
The Aussie, Ben Sawyer, has the same amount of time to prepare his charges for the World Cup as Jon Lewis. But his challenges are far greater. At the simpler end of the scale, he must encourage his players not to indulge in unforced errors, such as Plimmer’s run-out. But with the limited resources Sawyer has, that’s no easy task. The players themselves will know whether fielding lapses were threir own fault or not.
For both coaches, there are four more T20s to come in this series. It will be fascinating to see how far Lewis goes on experimenting – if at all. Perhaps one quickie to produce a lifter on an unwilling Bangladeshi surface?
Result:
England 197-3
New Zealand 138-9
England won by 59 runs
Player of the Match: Danni Wyatt
Teams
England
Danni Wyatt, Maia Bouchier, Nat Sciver-Brunt, Alice Capsey, Heather Knight (captain), Amy Jones (w-k), Freya Kemp, Charlie Dean, Sophie Ecclestone, Linsey Smith, Sarah Glenn
New Zealand
Suzie Bates, Georgia Plimmer, Amelia Kerr, Sophie Devine (captain), Maddy Green, Brooke Halliday, Isabella Gaze (w-k), Jess Kerr, Eden Carson, Lea Tahuhu, Fran Jonas
