Knight Leads England to a 5-0 Sweep Over New Zealand in T20I Series
With captain Heather Knight’s timely 46 not out, England maintained their perfect record for the duration of the series.
Heather Knight had stated after the fourth Twenty20 International against New Zealand that England intended to go through their home summer unbeaten, and it needed a well-timed captain’s knock to make sure that happened in the last game at Lord’s.
New Zealand 135 for 8 (A Kerr 43, Bell 3-21, Dean 2-29, Kemp 2-31) lost to England 155 for 7 (Knight 46*, Jonas 4-22, Carson 2-35) by 20 runs.
After Jonas’s attack, the captain regains form, and the bowlers close ranks to complete the 20-run victory at Lord’s.
The hosts were 87 for 6 in the 13th over, but Knight’s unbeaten 46 off 31 balls steadied them, and her 57-run partnership with Charlie Dean for the sixth wicket helped them to 155 for 7. That was in spite of the fact that England was in disarray after spinner Eden Carson took 2 for 35 and Fran Jonas claimed career-best figures of 4 for 22 from her four overs.
However, England’s bowlers struck at the appropriate moments, with Lauren Bell taking three wickets, Freya Kemp taking two, and Dean taking two as the White Ferns’ batting problems continued until the very end. The hosts triumphed by 20 runs, while Amelia Kerr’s 43 off 36 balls was insufficient to keep them in the game.
With the exception of one washout in the second ODI against Pakistan in Taunton, England won all 13 of the games that were played against New Zealand and Pakistan en route to a 5-0 T20I series sweep.
When left-arm spinner Jonas produced an odd opening ball of the match that was begging for Danni Wyatt to smash for six but landed tamely in the clutches of Amelia Kerr at deep midwicket, the crowd went hushed. Lea Tahuhu made a desperate leap, but Maia Bouchier, who had faced nine balls for her eight runs, blasted the first ball back over the bowler’s head for four.
A few moments later, Tahuhu might have had Alice Capsey caught and bowled, but the ball sailed to the boundary after bursting out of her outstretched right hand. Capsey hit the first of two fours in the over, good for a total of 14 runs.
When Bouchier chipped to mid-on with the first ball of her second over, Jonas took another wicket, leaving England 28 for 2 in the fourth over. To remove Nat Sciver-Brunt, Jonas had to wait until the second ball of her third over, but it was her greatest wicket, a superb return catch that saw her fling out her right hand almost behind her in the follow-through.
Capsey led her side to 40 for 2 at the end of the powerplay, two balls after being hit on the helmet by a slower ball aimed by Sophie Devine. She raced down the pitch to meet a full toss and hoisted it over mid-off for four. However, off-spinner Carson took Jonas’s lead and hit the first ball after Sciver-Brunt was dismissed. Carson lured Capsey down the pitch with a well-flighted ball that landed on a nice length and beat the bat as Izzy Gaze whipped off the bails. Carson was scheduled to miss the match until Leigh Kasperek injured her back in the warm-up.
Maddy Green caught Amy Jones at long on during Carson’s following over, and England stammered to 77 for 5. Jonas gave Kemp a reminder of where it all began before she could finish by bowling him a ball that slipped on and clattered into the middle and leg.
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Throughout her team’s visit from New Zealand, Knight had remained silent. Tammy Beaumont and Bouchier shared a century opening stand in the first ODI, but she was undefeated in the other two. She scored nine in all three ODIs. She had not reached 15, but she was not needed at Southampton or The Oval, so she skipped the third Twenty20 International as England rehearsed various situations in Canterbury.
She filled a critical role in this situation by partnering with Dean, who scored 24 off of 19 balls. In the eighteenth over, which ended for fifteen runs, Knight hit her fourth boundary, sweeping Carson for four. Then, in the following ball, she hit a massive six over long-on. After Dean was taken down by Jess Kerr in a return catch, Knight and Sophie Ecclestone made sure there was no more harm done.
The umpires decided that the replays were ambiguous as to whether the ball struck Bell’s boot, therefore Suzie Bates survived when Georgia Plimmer hammered a Bell delivery back down the pitch as the bowler stretched out her foot before the ball hit the stumps at the non-striker’s end with Bates out of her crease.
Plimmer, however, ended a disappointing tour in which she failed to surpass 29 and barely touched double figures twice, as she was caught behind a few moments later. Shortly after, Bates lost, narrowly losing to Lauren Filer in the middle of the match.
New Zealand faced 23 dot balls on their route to 31 for 2 by the end of the powerplay. When Devine holed out to Bouchier, Kemp kept up the good work for England’s seamers, leaving it up to Amelia Kerr and Brooke Halliday to save their team.
When Bell had Halliday grasping for a wide ball to be caught behind, they broke their union on 40 off 31 balls, and by then, New Zealand required 53 off 26. It appeared as though the White Ferns’ chances were gone when Dean and Jones bowled Gaze with a slower ball in the last over, and Amelia Kerr was removed for 43.
