| Teams | Mat | Won | Lost | Tied | N/R | Pts | Net RR | For | Against |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Australia Women | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | +0.952 | 1196/236.2 | 1130/275.0 |
| South Africa Women | 6 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 7 | +0.334 | 852/216.1 | 796/220.4 |
| England Women | 6 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 7 | +0.308 | 951/230.1 | 875/228.5 |
| West Indies Women | 6 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 6 | +0.584 | 1128/257.3 | 1111/292.4 |
| Pakistan Women | 6 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 6 | -0.398 | 1030/271.0 | 1023/243.4 |
| New Zealand Women | 6 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | -0.876 | 955/298.4 | 1049/257.3 |
| Sri Lanka Women | 6 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 3 | -0.347 | 861/226.0 | 927/223.0 |
| India Women | 6 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 3 | -0.371 | 793/224.5 | 855/219. |
Ostensibly Rachael Priest with 96* and Amy Satterthwaite 76* were the difference as they guided New Zealand to a 9 wicket win with an unbeaten second wicket partnership of 153. But the problem was that they were chasing only 218 to win, which was probably 30/40 runs short of a good score on a pitch being used for the third time.
England's innings followed an all too familiar pattern. They got off to a decent start with Edwards (40) and Knight (79) taking the score to 71/0 in the 17th over, before Edwards fell caught behind, feathering Bermingham through to Priest behind the stumps. Knight then added another 62 with Lauren Winfield (29) for the second wicket, and, even when Winfield missed a huge sweep to leg to be bowled by Amy Satterthwaite, England were nicely placed at 133/2. But Taylor, Jones, Sciver and then Knight all fell within the next eight overs and England were in trouble at 158/6.
Taylor jumped a foot outside her off-stump to her 6th ball and tried to lap Satterthwaite's off-spin down to long leg. She only managed to hit the ball onto her own stumps. It was a staggering way to get out. Amy Jones, in for dropped Lydia Greenway, due to a "temporary loss of form" looked lively, but scooped Bermingham to mid-on. Nat Sciver pushed her second ball to mid-off and then ran, only to be run out at the bowler's end. It made no sense. Knight was then caught and bowled by Bermingham off a leading edge.
Fortunately Katherine Brunt (26), batting again at 7, and Laura Marsh (12) managed to add 37 by a mixture of good hitting, good running and good luck. But Marsh's luck ran out when she lofted one off Satterthwaite towards Suzie Bates at mid-on. She dived to her left to take a great catch. She does have a remarkable pair of hands. Brunt too then fell to another good catch, this time by Perkins at cow corner. The ball came down with snow on it, but she watched it well and caught it safely. Jenny Gunn, dropped down to 10, tried to make an impossible run after playing out two dot balls at the start of the 49th over, but Anya Shrubsole (15*) and Dani Hazell (2*) took England to 217/9.
New Zealand got off to a rattling start, taking 28 runs off Brunt's first three overs as she strayed too much on the legside and then too short. Fortunately Heather Knight was bowling very tightly at the other end. Her first five overs went for just 8 runs (she finished with 0/18 off 10). But New Zealand were comfortably ahead of the required run rate on 53/0 after 10 overs. It was a surprise when Bates clipped one to Nat Sciver at short midwicket off Shrubsole to depart for 39 with the score on 66. Priest seemed to retract back into her shell and Amy Satterthwaite took an eternity to find the middle of her bat, having failed in the previous two games. Gradually the required run rate began to rise, first above five an over and eventually up to six, but the Kiwis had wickets in hand. They brought up their 50 partnership off 96 balls in the 30th over, and they still needed 99 to win. After 40 overs they had 165/1, needing 53 off 10 overs. With 8 overs to go they needed 48, but then suddenly Satterthwaite came to life. She brought up her 50 off 93 balls with a four of Hazell, and proceeded to drive the next ball for four more. She was dropped by Charlotte Edwards in the 47th over, but by then the game had gone. She crashed two more fours off Shrubsole in the 48th over, which meant New Zealand needed just 4 off 12 balls. Priest had looked very likely to get her hundred, but Satterthwaite's late burst left too few needed for her to get there. She took a single in the 49th over and then Satterthwaite ended it with another four, with 8 balls to spare.
It was a chastening win for New Zealand. England came into this series as very firm favourites. . They have left with a lot of questions still to be answered before their next ICC games against the Australians as part of the Ashes in the summer. The most important is who is going to bat at 3,4,5, and 6 and how do they bat when they are there. In addition the bowling has been ragged and the fielding seems to have slipped. They have three T20s and two more ODIs to try and find some solutions. They also have injuries to Lauren Winfield and Rebecca Grundy to manage, amongst others probably.
The next game is at the Cobham Oval in Whangarei on Thursday. That is just three practice days
away.
Full scorecard here - http://scoring.blackcaps.co.nz/livescoring/match2517/scorecard.aspx
MD
15/ii/15
Thanks for the comprehensive summary Martin. I would have had no idea how it happened otherwise.
ReplyDeleteIt looked like a close game, but it's always difficult to restrict a chasing side when you only take 1 wicket. You can't just blame the batters, at least they increased the score with every game. I was disappointed after that great show in the field in the second match. I agree that the main batting concern is the middle order, they collapse in every game. It's tempting to change the order round and put more solid players like Knight lower ,and Gunn and Marsh higher, but with injuries we will probably need to keep Jones and Sciver around even if they're not scoring many runs.
For NZ I've rated Sattherthwaite highly for a while, she will be dangerous in T20. Perkins is also very good although has not done much yet in this series. We still have a chance in the overall ODI series, and after the T20 series is done I'm more interested in what happens there, now we look resigned to 3rd/4th place in the Championship table. I will be surprised if SA stay above us for too long though. I still think we have the edge on them.
Thanks MD as feared the World Cup casts s huge shadow over womens cricket even in such an important game for England.
ReplyDeleteI have huge respect for our star players in the past they pulled the rest of the team performances up with them, now they are under huge pressure to carry under performing talent. While this happens other countries get stronger and Australia continue to excel backed by an excellent state structure.
The stars can inspire a turnaround in the short term I'm sure but the future I have my doubts.
Very disappointing. Thought from 2nd ODI we were getting somewhere but no, back to square one.
ReplyDeleteStupid run outs, some stupid shots and too many batsmen out of form coming together to create a disaster waiting to happen.
At this rate Brunt might end up at about no5 by the end of the tour !!
This squad was widely applauded when announced which suggests, bar possibly Elwiss, there is not much pressure on these players from the Academy and others and hence its up to them to sort themselves out.
Its brutal but some of the batsman in this squad have to step up or we will be right to ask why they are even in the squad. I hope they do step up because it would not be nice to see some loyal servants simply fade to a shadow of their former selves.
Yes agreed the team in the 3rd ODI was about the best batting line up we have, and still we collapsed. Just checked and Wyatt's ODI average is below Sciver's, so wouldn't strengthen the team by making that change. Lack of pressure on places from the Academy I agree, and for whatever reason the domestic game isn't producing batters right now. Lottie will be gone in a few years as well I guess, and who will replace her runs? Martin and Syd's blogs have both spoken of what they believe is the need to shake up the domestic game and introduce either a regional championship or reduce the number of counties. Do we have any indications about whether the ECB are seriously contemplating changes of this nature?
ReplyDelete