England Secures 3-0 Series Lead Over New Zealand in Thrilling T20I Match
England’s women’s cricket team defeated New Zealand 3-0 in an exciting game at Canterbury to take a commanding lead in their Twenty20 International series.
Leading the way with four wickets from Sophie Ecclestone and an undefeated 67 from Alice Capsey, England won by six wickets, sealing the deal in the last over.
New Zealand 141 for 8 (Devine 58*, Bates 38, Ecclestone 4-25) lost to England 142 for 4 (Capsey 67*, Dunkley 35) by six wickets.
In their Twenty20 International series against New Zealand, England switched things up, placed it in a test tube, found themselves under siege, yet still prevailed and built an unstoppable 3-0 lead.
In Canterbury, the hosts won by six wickets with four balls remaining after Alice Capsey’s T20I career-best of 67 not out silenced Sophie Devine with a four-wicket haul.
With two games remaining, the hosts might very well stick with their experimental strategy, which saw Sophia Dunkley seize her opportunity to propel England to victory with a 26-ball 35, going back to the top of the order and partnering with Capsey for 66 runs. The White Ferns were left to lament a string of wasted opportunities in the field as two swift wickets to Fran Jonas kept the hope that Devine had given New Zealand alive, but Capsey’s sixty-ball innings and a stylish cameo by Freya Kemp of sixteen not out from eight balls saw England home.
This was more like the batting display that New Zealand had long yearned for, starting with Suzie Bates’ incredible straight drive for four off the opening delivery of the game, marking her 10,000th international run. She also had a 52-run stand with Amelia Kerr for the second wicket.
The White Ferns were 46 for 1 at the end of the powerplay, and Kerr got them over 50 with four off Sarah Glenn’s opening delivery, a fuller one that she hoisted behind square. However, Ecclestone dismissed both in a crushing opening over, so Devine had to provide the kind of performance that had eluded her on this tour thus far.
After falling for a first-ball duck in the opening over, Georgia Plimmer was out of the game, raising the prospect of New Zealand’s batting problems once more. Devine and Brooke Halliday had to steady them at 63 for 3. Charlie Dean dropped a superb return catch, giving Devine a life, and Halliday spooned a Glenn delivery straight to Nat Sciver-Brunt at long-on.
When Devine hit Dean for two fours in four balls, swung over square leg, then thundered through long-on, she ended a 5.4-over boundary drought. However, if they were to convert 100 for 6 into a manageable total, Devine would need to step it up.
Kemp removed Hannah Rowe to make it 106 for 7, but two balls later, Devine smashed the first six of the match over long-on, then slog-swept Ecclestone for an even bigger six over deep square leg, and the following ball was driven down the ground for four. After hitting the first of three consecutive fours from Dani Gibson, Devine reached her fifty runs. She then blasted over short third and finished the innings with a heave through square leg, earning her maiden half-century of the tour.
With her second ball, Ecclestone launched an attack, as Bates chipped straight to Sciver-Brunt at mid-off for a 27-ball 38. Three balls later, Kerr was hit by a beauty of a delivery that dipped, gripped off the ground, and soared over the inside edge onto the top of middle stump. Kerr swung her bat in anguish. New Zealand were in serious trouble when Ecclestone sprayed Izzy Gaze’s off stump with her arm ball.
When Ecclestone attempted to match her captain’s striking by heaving across the line, but failed and saw her middle stump rattled, Devine changed gears. Ecclestone then claimed her fourth. It was Ecclestone’s final ball of allotment, and she finished with 4 for 25, her second four-wicket total in T20Is, surpassed only by her 4 for 18 against New Zealand at Taunton in 2018.
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In a piece of “what-if?” planning before of the T20 World Cup, Sciver-Brunt, filling in for Heather Knight, who sat out with Danni Wyatt and Lauren Bell, detailed the drastic alterations England made. That allowed Dunkley to play her first T20I since March at the top of the order.
Kemp made her comeback from a back injury to play as an all-rounder in the opening Twenty20 International in Southampton following her undefeated 26 and 1 for 30 performance. In keeping with a theme Knight painted ahead of the T20I series, Bell was replaced by fellow seamer Lauren Filer. England would need to adjust to the changing circumstances in Bangladesh, therefore they would try alternative combinations and strategies.
Dunkley, who was dropped during England’s tour of New Zealand earlier this year, made her lone appearance during the White Ferns’ visit, scoring 15 in the third ODI in Bristol. Before the T20 World Cup, she got another opportunity to demonstrate her abilities, and this time, Maia Bouchier’s fall on the opening ball of the run-chase gave Rowe more reason to shine.
After hitting a massive six over long-off in Rowe’s following over, Dunkley helped herself to three fours in Devine’s second over, the final one of the powerplay, and finished with England comfortably on 50 for 1. However, she was dismissed after two balls by left-arm spinner Jonas, who had taken Dunkley for a leg stump-missing full ball that had drifted in and chopped onto her stumps, and Sciver-Brunt for a leg before wicket that would have been overturned had she reviewed it.
Capsey made the most of her opportunity when she was pinned on the front pad while trying a reverse sweep off Kasperek. The ball was successfully reviewed, showing that it was traveling down the leg side, leaving England requiring 73 runs in 10 overs. With England requiring 28 off 17 balls, Amy Jones survived two missed opportunities, dismissed on 11 by Plimmer at long-off and by Devine at mid-off. Capsey hit Kerr over long-on with the next ball for six, bringing the equation down to 22 from 15 when Jones was run out.
Kemp seized the opportunity after Maddy Green was unable to hold in the deep. He skillfully reversed Kasperek to the boundary by using short third, and he then smashed the next ball down the ground, leaving England with five runs needed in the final over. Capsey’s brilliant four off a Jonas misfield took them there with four balls remaining.
