Match report
And that’s all from me. The England players are soaking themselves with Champagne, happy with their summer if not this defeat. It might just be mid-July but this is their final international outing of the summer. And it’s over and out for me, too. Bye!
Heather Knight has her post-match interview. She speaks too quickly, so I can’t really keep up. Sorry:
Obviously we’re disappointed with today but overall it’s been a brilliant summer. We’ve developed as a side and played some brilliant cricket. It’s good to get reminders of where you’re at and what you need to improve in. Our bowling’s been a real highlight for me over the summer, though the battings been outstanding. Sophie played a brilliant innings today and took the game away from us.
Suzie Bates, the New Zealand captain, has a chat:
It’s nice to talk to you after a win and not a loss. I’m stoked with the way the girls have bounced back against a really quality side. We had long discussions around the order. It’s been an issue this series, it hasn’t been in the past. I thought Sophie was the best player to make the most of the powerplay, and I thought I could handle it in the middle order. Not to be today.
I think it’s probably the most mature innings. She can hit the ball a long way but when she’s out gor a long time she’s really difficult to bowl to. After a long series she showed what kind of guts she’s got, so I’m really pleased for her. I thought our bowling effort was outstanding. We didn’t get off to a great start but to keep them to 220 was outstanding after that. It’s been a long tour for us, we’ve got a lot of things to reflect on, but this win will give us a lot of confidence and now we know where we need to be at to compete against these top teams.
Amy Jones, who scored a fine 78 today, is the player of the series.
I love opening. Obviously we’ve got a lot of batting in our team, but to have that opportunity is brilliant. The ball’s hard, it runs fast, it’s the best place to bat.
Sophie Devine is the player of the match, after that excellent match-winning innings:
We’ve been bloody disappointed with the way we’ve batted, so for me it’s nice to knuckle in and bat through. I knew I had to bat through today for us to have a good crack at it. It was a tough wicket to bat on, but somebody had to bat through. It was always going to get a little bit harder, we knew we just had to play straight, and that was the basis of my batting today.
SIX! New Zealand win by four wickets!
44.4 overs: New Zealand 224-6 (Devine 117, Kerr 12) Brunt launches into a noisy, slightly desperate lbw appeal, but the ball appeared to be heading down leg. Ball tracking later shows that it was destined to clip the outside edge of the stump. A few balls later she bowls a filthy full toss, and Devine swipes it off her hip and over long leg for a decisive, match-winning six!
44th over: New Zealand 217-6 (Devine 111, Kerr 12) Devine gets an early single and Kerr slightly mishits a few balls straight to fielders, before finally nailing one over a flailing, grasping, failing mid-off for four.
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43rd over: New Zealand 212-6 (Devine 110, Kerr 8) Brunt ends her over with an excellent yorker, which Devine does well to dig out. It was a decent over, with several deliveries that threatened the wicket, and if Devine wasn’t seeing the ball like a hot air balloon they might have made a breakthrough. However, she is. And they didn’t.
42nd over: New Zealand 207-6 (Devine 109, Kerr 5) Elwiss’s first delivery is steered through the covers for four by Devine, whose innings has been totally decisive today. England were 201-6 at this stage of their innings, so the only thing that sustains hope of success for them at the moment is the memory of their own failure.
41st over: New Zealand 199-6 (Devine 103, Kerr 3) Marsh bowls, and Kerr leaves it so late to play her stroke that the ball already appears destined to clatter the stumps. At the last moment Kerr brings her bat down, and it somehow disappears.
40th over: New Zealand 197-6 (Devine 103, Kerr 1) With 10 overs to go, New Zealand need 23 runs. This should still be straightforward, and there is no need for them to be anything other than conservative.
WICKET! Martin run out 23 (New Zealand 196-6)
An unnecessary risk from the batters, a good throw from Kate Cross, and Martin’s race is run!
39th over: New Zealand 194-5 (Devine 102, Martin 22) With most of the fielders up in search of catches the batters known that if they hit high and hard and catch the ball cleanly they are likely to be rewarded. Martin thus thumps high and wide of mid-on, and gets four runs. Then Martin cracks the final delivery to deep square leg, where Winfield is on the spot but completely misjudges it, gifting the batter a few bonus runs.
38th over: New Zealand 184-5 (Devine 101, Martin 14) Devine’s nervous nineties don’t look very nerve-wracking, though they don’t last very long. She hits Sciver’s first ball for four, and then her third is hoisted over cover but only brings two, and then a single takes Devine to her century! Straw-grasping dept: she has four previous ODI centuries, and the last three of those innings ended before she got to 110.
37th over: New Zealand 176-5 (Devine 93, Martin 14) Marsh returns, but she can’t turn the course of the game. New Zealand now need 3.3 runs an over, and it’s falling fast as they canter to surely inevitable victory.
36th over: New Zealand 171-5 (Devine 91, Martin 10) Nat Sciver bowls for the first time, and New Zealand take three simple singles. They require less than 50 runs now, and have 84 balls left to do it in.
35th over: New Zealand 168-5 (Devine 89, Martin 9) Cross continues, and Martin smartly cuts away for four. New Zealand need the vaguest smidgeon over 3.5 an over, and England need to provoke a collapse similar to the one they themselves produced if they’re to get anywhere here.
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34th over: New Zealand 161-5 (Devine 88, Martin 4) Ecclestone’s final over, and her search or a third wicket ends in vain. Instead Devine hits her high over mid-on for another fine four.
33rd over: New Zealand 155-5 (Devine 83, Martin 4) Cross’s over starts with a loud lbw appeal, but the umpire has spotted the inside edge and Devine is thus saved. A single later, the ball pretty much refuses to bounce, bemusing Martin but not endangering her wicket.
32nd over: New Zealand 154-5 (Devine 82, Martin 4) From the final ball of the over, with Ecclestone on the verge of a wicket maiden, Martin swipes the ball past backward point for four. This is not a done deal.
WICKET! Bezuidenhout lbw b Ecclestone 4 (New Zealand 150-5)
Bezuidenhout attempts a sweep, gets nothing on it, and she’s on her way!
31st over: New Zealand 149-4 (Devine 82, Bezuidenhout 4) This is Bezuidenhout’s sixth ODI innings, and it is already her third-highest total. She extends it to four with a reverse sweep off Brunt’s final delivery.
30th over: New Zealand 145-4 (Devine 80, Bezuidenhout 3) After a brief spinless pause, Ecclestone returns. If England can winkle Devine out in the next couple of overs the game will be up for grabs again. Devine doesn’t get out, though, or even face a delivery.
29th over: New Zealand 143-4 (Devine 80, Bezuidenhout 1) Brunt’s wicket-taking delivery was a peach, moving gently away from the left-hander. And she thought she’d taken another wicket next ball, which Bezuidenhout might have just nicked, but Jones didn’t catch it, so it didn’t much matter.
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WICKET! Satterthwaite b 25 (New Zealand 142-4)
Just as New Zealand looked set to power their way to trouble-free glory, Brunt dismantles Satterthwaite’s off stump!
28th over: New Zealand 141-3 (Devine 79, Satterthwaite 25) Elwiss’s second delivery is battered to the long-off boundary by Devine, and her fourth to almost exactly the same place by Satterthwaite. She then scoops the ball towards midwicket, but it’s just too high and wide for the fielder to grasp, and it runs to the boundary as well!
27th over: New Zealand 127-3 (Devine 74, Satterthwaite 16) Katherine Brunt is back, and she launches a massive appeal as the ball clips Devine’s front pad, but the umpire shakes his head (and ball tracking later shows he was right to do so). Four easy singles and a leg bye keep New Zealand on track.
26th over: New Zealand 122-3 (Devine 73, Satterthwaite 13) The skies over Leicester have apparently darkened, leading to mutterings about Duckworth-Lewis in the commentary box, though no rain is being forecast at the moment. Devlin flicks to long leg, where Beaumont, sprinting to her right, dives, collects the ball, discollects the ball and watches it roll away. Well as she had done to get there, that has to go down as another misfield.
25th over: New Zealand 117-3 (Devine 69, Satterthwaite 12) Satterthwaite hits Marsh’s first ball for four. Marsh went for 3.10 an over in the second ODI and 3.42 in the first, but today she’s going at 6.60.
24th over: New Zealand 110-3 (Devine 69, Satterthwaite 6) Devine is at it again, blasting the final ball of Ecclestone’s seventh over over midwicket. New Zealand are precisely halfway there.
23rd over: New Zealand 104-3 (Devine 64, Satterthwaite 5) Bosh! Devine spears the ball over extra cover, in the air but completely safe, for four. In 13 innings when she has scored at least 60 runs she averages a disconcerting 115.5. After a single Satterthwaite hits a similar if less elegant shot, scooping the ball in the air but safely over mid-off.
22nd over: New Zealand 95-3 (Devine 59, Satterthwaite 1) Ecclestone’s sixth over yields three singles. Not much to report.
21st over: New Zealand 92-3 (Devine 57, Satterthwaite 0) Six runs! Marsh’s first delivery is smashed wide of deep square leg for the first six of the match and indeed the series. On the plus side, Marsh is getting the ball to turn.
20th over: New Zealand 85-3 (Devine 50, Satterthwaite 0) Sophie Devine gets the single she needs to complete her 50, from her 54th delivery. Despite their recent wobble I make New Zealand still marginal favourites to win this, and Devine is in the form to help them to victory.
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19th over: New Zealand 84-3 (Devine 49, Satterthwaite 0) The ball bounces down leg side and Beaumont sprints all the way from backward point to long stop in a bid to save a run, dives, gets to the ball just in time, flicks it backwards excellently, accidentally hits it with her other arm, and ball and fielder crash over the rope together. That was the bad news. Two balls later, Bates was gone.
WICKET! Bates b Marsh 1 (New Zealand 84-3)
Bates tries to slash a wide delivery through midwicket but inside-edges into her stumps!
18th over: New Zealand 76-2 (Devine 46, Bates 0) Bates comes in at No4, apparently just the second time she hasn’t opened an ODI since 2012. And she very nearly fails to last the over, but a loud and quite tasty-looking lbw appeal from Ecclestone elicits no response from the umpire.
WICKET! Green b Ecclestone 23 (New Zealand 76-2)
The partnership is broken with the ball after the drinks break, as Green comes down the pitch and misses it entirely, and behind her it clips the bottom of leg stump!
17th over: New Zealand 76-1 (Green 23, Devine 47) England double down on spin, with Laura Marsh getting her first over. Just three off it, all singles.
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16th over: New Zealand 73-1 (Green 21, Devine 46) Green comes down the track to Ecclestone and gets a leading edge, but the ball bounces safely to cover. New Zealand appear to be pacing this very nicely. They require about 4.3 an over from here.
15th over: New Zealand 68-1 (Green 19, Devine 43) A couple of vaguely threatening moments in Elwiss’s over, with one loud appeal from behind the wicket (the ball flicked off the pad, rather than the bat) and a run-out chance, narrowly missed.
14th over: New Zealand 64-1 (Green 18, Devine 40) Devine tickles the ball to deep fine leg, and there’s no fielder anywhere near it, allowing the batters to run three before it’s returned. England need wickets if they’re to defend their total, but don’t have the kind of attacking field that would suggest they’re seriously hunting them.
13th over: New Zealand 58-1 (Green 16, Devine 36) Elwiss continues, and just one comes from the over. Green faces five deliveries: she has 16 runs from 42 balls faced, and Devine 36 from 32.
12th over: New Zealand 57-1 (Green 15, Devine 36) Now England turn to spin, in the shape of Sophie Ecclestone, and New Zealand score six in ones and twos.
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11th over: New Zealand 51-1 (Green 14, Devine 31) Elwiss continues, which shows what I know. Green hits the biggest, meanest shot of the innings, hoisting the ball over midwicket where it lands maybe six feet before the rope, bounces once and flies away for four.
10th over: New Zealand 45-1 (Green 9, Devine 30) Another misfield, or at least a poor dive, in the covers costs a couple of runs. A couple of balls later the ball goes in a similar direction but this time gives the fielders no chance at all. In the second ODI England switched to spin in the 11th over, and I’d be surprised if they don’t do the same here with New Zealand in the ascendancy.
9th over: New Zealand 37-1 (Green 8, Devine 23) Georgia Elwiss has a bowl, as England stick with seam. Just two runs result, one of them a leg bye.
8th over: New Zealand 35-1 (Green 7, Devine 23) Sophie Devine is playing excellently here. Before this series she had six half-centuries in seven ODI innings, three of them centuries, and she looks in good touch again, and gets another boundary from the last ball of Cross’s fourth over.
7th over: New Zealand 27-1 (Green 6, Devine 16) Devine’s third boundary has no element of fluke whatsoever, the ball guided with precision between cover fielders and skimmed across the granite outfield to the rope. A single later, Green flicks a full delivery through midwicket for four more. Two excellent shots there, appropriately rewarded.
6th over: New Zealand 18-1 (Green 2, Devine 11) Dropped! Well, kind of! Devine cuts to Danielle Wyatt at backward point, but it arrives low and she can’t quite get her fingers under the ball. The last two overs have brought two runs.
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5th over: New Zealand 17-1 (Green 2, Devine 10) Brunt’s second delivery hits Green on the foot, but seemed to be on its way down leg side. As Ravi Nair suggests this isn’t a scary target, they just need to stay in and keep the scoreboard ticking over.
@Simon_Burnton Looks like the White Ferns could walk this. Easy does it for them, if Brunt and Cross are giving away about 5 or 6 an over.
— (((Ravi Nair))) (@palfreyman1414) July 13, 2018
4th over: New Zealand 16-1 (Green 2, Devine 9) Devine’s second boundary is only slightly less streaky than her first, as she edges away for four. There’s no slip in play, and the ball flew high past the right shoulder of Amy Jones.
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3rd over: New Zealand 10-1 (Green 1, Devine 4) The first boundary of the innings is gifted to Devine when Sophie Ecclestone, fielding at mid-on, unaccountably let the ball go straight through her hands, and through her legs, and away to the rope.
2nd over: New Zealand 5-1 (Green 1, Devine 0) A good opening over from Kate Cross, with a single off it. On Sky, Rob Key rips into the decision to “rest” Katie George, the 19-year-old whose bowling in the second match was occasionally a little wild, but which also brought useful top-order wickets.
1st over: New Zealand 4-1 (Green 0, Devine 0) Katherine Brunt starts the innings with a leg-side wide, the first of three in the over, but Watkin never looks at all comfortable against a straight ball, and barely gets her bat on anything in the three legal deliveries she faces. The last one didn’t move, swing, spin, pop or rock, it was just straight. It was a marginal lbw call, though ball tracking later shows the ball would have clipped the edge of leg stump.
WICKET! Watkin lbw b Brunt 0 (New Zealand 2-1)
Well that worked well.
The players are out, and cricket is about to be played. New Zealand have played with their top order, and after the dust settled Jess Watkin came out with a bat, and is on strike as the innings starts.
Hello world! So this is a total that New Zealand could chase down. There’s no need to panic or rush. They can take their time, take no risks, and gently coast their way towards victory. But their batting in this series, albeit with England having set more demanding targets on both occasions, has been poor, and having scored 148 and 117 in the first two matches, 220 must feel pretty daunting.
That’s it from me. Simon Burnton will be the man in the seat to take you through the New Zealand chase. Send your emails to him here.
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A good point, on New Zealand’s chances.
@NickMiller79 The difference this time is that NZ are not under run pressure - an easy 4.5 an over will do this for them. Of course there's a chance they'll still have a horror innings, but I'd say the odds are definitely in their favour between innings.
— (((Ravi Nair))) (@palfreyman1414) July 13, 2018
England started really well with Beaumont and Jones putting on 104 for the first wicket, but after that nobody scored more than 18. Still, New Zealand did bowl very well, particularly Jensen and Kasperek, while Kerr was unlucky not to pick up a wicket. England’s spinners should have some joy on this surface too.
New Zealand require 220 to win
Perhaps I’ve been a bit harsh on England. The pitch is slow and the outfield big, even if it is fast. They’ll have wanted more than this, but as has been mentioned New Zealand have batted terribly in the previous two ODIs, so on that basis this total might be plenty.
WICKET! Marsh b Kasperek 9 - England 219 all out
Another one keeps low, and Kasperek gets a five-fer as Marsh is bowled. England all out with a couple of overs to spare, and with a pretty disappointing total.
47th over: England 216-9 (Marsh 9, Cross 2) England try some sweeps from Watkin, but she does them with the off spin. A couple of drives don’t really work either, and Watkin is a bit unlucky not to get a wicket somewhere in there.
46th over: England 213-9 (Marsh 8, Cross 1) Cross sweeps a single, then Marsh is very nearly stumped off what might have been a doosra from Kasperek, but she just got back in time.
WICKET! Ecclestone lbw b Kasperek 1 - England 212-9
Kasperek sends down a ball so slow it barely made it to Ecclestone. Maybe that flummoxed her, as she completely missed a flick off her pads, and was caught dead in front.
45th over: England 211-8 (Marsh 7, Ecclestone 1) Technically a drop behind the stumps, as Marsh goes a long way back and tries a dab, which goes off the face and thuds the end of Martin’s fingers. Three singles and a wide from the over, and Jensen’s spell is done: excellent figures too, finishing with 2-26 off her ten overs.
44th over: England 207-8 (Marsh 5, Ecclestone 0) England might get bowled out here...
WICKET! Wyatt c Devine b Watkin 18 - England 207-8
Another good catch, another England batter who started but didn’t finish. Wyatt goes for a sort of slog-sweep thing over mid-on, but crucially doesn’t get it over mid-on. Devine times a jump perfectly and plucks a catch from the air.
43rd over: England 203-7 (Wyatt 17, Marsh 2) On the TV commentary, Izzy Westbury makes the salient point that England will know, even if this has been a relatively disappointing innings, that even if they only post 230-odd they know it will probably be enough, given how New Zealand have batted in this series.
WICKET! Elwiss c Green b Jensen 11 - England 201-7
Ah, when attacking shots go bad. Elwiss absolutely nails a flick out towards deep mid-wicket, but unfortunately nails it straight into the hands of Green, who just about holds onto the catch.
42nd over: England 201-6 (Wyatt 17, Elwiss 11) Ah, there you go. Elwiss comes down the track and plays a terrific shot over mid-on, skipping off that concrete outfield and to the boundary. Then some hideous fielding on the boundary turns two into three as Jensen fumbles a cut, throw in a couple of singles and that’s a pretty good over from England.
41st over: England 192-6 (Wyatt 16, Elwiss 3) Yeah, not great. It’s decent bowling and there has been a clatter of wickets, but there have been barely any real attacking shots from England. None in that over, which produces a single.
40th over: England 191-6 (Wyatt 16, Elwiss 2) This hasn’t been great from England. At one point when the openers were together, 300 looked entirely possible, but now they’ll be happy with 240-250.
WICKET! Brunt c Bates Kasperek 5 - England 188-6
Brilliant catch! Brunt tries to repeat Wyatt’s shot from the previous over, but gets a leading edge on the shot and Bates, running in from the covers, dives forward to scoop the ball up as it sniffs the blades of grass.
39th over: England 188-5 (Wyatt 15, Brunt 5) Wyatt gets one through the covers but the sweeper runs round so it’s only two, but then she goes a bit more agricultural and hoiks a boundary over mid-on.
38th over: England 180-5 (Wyatt 8, Brunt 4) England continue to have problems piercing the infield. Wyatt tries a bit of invention with a little dab but backward point comes round to stop it, then Brunt moves around in her crease and as a consequence can’t properly reach a wide ball from Kasperek.
37th over: England 177-5 (Wyatt 6, Brunt 3) Eeesh, Wyatt goes right back to what looked like a loopy, full ball from Kerr and only just keeps the ball away from her stumps. Then there’s a googly that keeps low that Wyatt plays pretty well, jabbing it away for a single. Four runs from the over.
36th over: England 173-5 (Wyatt 4, Brunt 1) Brief confusion at the end of the over, specifically as to when that end was. They seemed done, then the umpire recalled a missed delivery and they returned.
WICKET! Sciver run out (Kasperek) 11 - England 171-5
Your basic nightmare for Sciver. Wyatt drives back at Kasperek, who gets the tip of the tip of her finger on the ball as she goes for a low catch, but it goes on to hit the stumps and Sciver is out of her ground by about an inch.
35th over: England 170-4 (Sciver 10, Wyatt 3) First boundary since the 28th over as Sciver whips a full ball from Jensen off her toes, which Bezuidenhout can’t save at fine leg. Wyatt drives into the covers and there’s some very good then very bad fielding, Bates stopping the initial shot but an overthrow donated after some ropey/non-existent backing up.
34th over: England 163-4 (Sciver 5, Wyatt 1) Kerr still causing some problems: a ripping leg spinner beats Sciver’s outside edge, then Wyatt doesn’t look at all comfortable playing a googly off the back foot. Three singles from the over.
33rd over: England 160-4 (Sciver 3, Wyatt 0) England in a bit of a funk here. Could do with Sciver and new bat Dani Wyatt calming things down a bit.
WICKET! Knight b Jensen 16 - 160-4
Jensen returns, and Sciver gets off the mark with a neat tickle off her pads which runs down to fine leg for a couple. And then Knight goes to a frankly hideous heave across the line, that was maybe a bit slower because she looked through the shot early.
32nd over: England 156-3 (Knight 15, Sciver 0) Nat Sciver the new bat, and she hits her first ball to mid-on for no run.
WICKET! Jones st Martin b Watkin 78 - England 156-3
Jones comes down the track and doesn’t really get all of a shot that was intended to be a big one, then Knight goes delicate with the reverse sweep. They keep finding the fielders with these shots though: bad luck, bad placement or good positioning by Bates with her fielders? And then: gone. Jones comes down the pitch again, runs past one and despite a brief fumble, Martin removes the bails.
31st over: England 152-2 (Jones 76, Knight 13) Kerr tosses plenty up, and England nudge a couple and sweep one, all for singles.
30th over: England 148-2 (Jones 74, Knight 11) Watkin’s back with her off-spinners, and Jones goes for a reverse sweep. A little risky considering that’s how Beaumont fell earlier in the innings? She skews the shot too, but safely this time. Four runs from the over.
29th over: England 144-2 (Jones 71, Knight 10) Kerr is back, and Knight turns a single from a controlled sweep into two with some smart running. But then she might have been run out had Satterthwaite hit the stumps with a throw from a deepish mid-on. England look like they’re trying to get after Kerr but can’t quite get her away properly. Three more singles from the over, though.
28th over: England 138-2 (Jones 69, Knight 6) Devine is back into the attack, and she’s whacked over wide mid-off by Jones, the ball skipping across that bare, firm ground and to the boundary. She looks very good at the moment, so apologies for her inevitable inexplicable wicket in the next couple of overs.
27th over: England 132-2 (Jones 64, Knight 5) Another over with some firmly hit shot that go straight at fielders. Two runs from the first ball of the over, a forced back-foot shot through the covers from Jones, and three further singles from the over.
26th over: England 127-2 (Jones 60, Knight 4) Bates drops short and Jones is on it like a whippet, flashing a pull to the boundary behind square. After a single she’s almost out in supremely unlucky fashion, the old ‘run out while backing up when the bowler deflects a straight drive’ gambit, but she just made her ground.
25th over: England 120-2 (Jones 54, Knight 3) Kasperek continues, and the English batters make good connections with a few shots but pick out fielders with all of them: two singles from the over, a wide, but a few yards either way with some of those shots and it could have been a lot more.
24th over: England 117-2 (Jones 53, Knight 2) Suzie Bates brings herself on for a bowl, and manages a pretty tight over: three singles from it, two for Knight, one to Jones.
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23rd over: England 114-2 (Jones 52, Knight 0) Before that wicket Jones went to her half century with a smart two, then some ropey fielding helped her to a straight boundary, good shot though it was.
WICKET! Winfield c Green b Kasperek 5 - England 114-2
Well that didn’t last long. Winfield tries to go big over mid-wicket, but doesn’t get enough of the shot and Green takes a good catch running in from the boundary.
22nd over: England 107-1 (Jones 49, Winfield 1) Winfield is nearly cleaned up by a Kerr googly that skids on and nearly sneaks through. She didn’t pick that one, but does manage to spot another a few balls later. Three runs from the over.
21st over: England 104-1 (Jones 47, Winfield 0) Lauren Winfield is the new bat, returning to the side in place of Sarah Taylor. She blocks the remainder of the over.
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WICKET! Beaumont c Martin b Kasperek 53 - England 104-1
Leigh Kasperek gets a bowl, and some careless batting sees the end of Beaumont. She tries a reverse sweep first up but doesn’t get it right, edging and Martin can’t quite take the catch. A couple of balls later she tries it again, and this time it loops up off a glove or edge and Martin is left with a simple catch.
20th over: England 102-0 (Jones 46, Beaumont 52) Beaumont goes to her half-century by coming down the track and giving a Kerr full-toss the necessary treatment, smacking a very straight four. That’s her fourth fifty in the last five games for Beaumont. A few balls later Jones doesn’t pick a googly and is almost bowled, but instead gets two runs from an inside-edge.
19th over: England 93-0 (Jones 43, Beaumont 46) What a shot! Huddleston throws up a fairly innocuous ball on off stump, but Beaumont takes it to the absolute cleaners, whipping over mid-on for a one-bounce four. There’s a brilliant flourish to her work when she plays shots like that. She hits another with a similar arc, but this one goes straight to deep mid-wicket and only gets a single for it. In the middle of all that Huddlston nearly gets through her defences with a decent yorker, but by gosh Beaumont looks in good touch.
18th over: England 86-0 (Jones 42, Beaumont 40) Some weird runs, as Beaumont gets a drive from a very full ball by Kerr quite wrong, seems to get more of her front pad than the ball but it catches an outside edge and runs down towards third man. Two runs from that, then two more singles completes another tiday over from Kerr.
17th over: England 82-0 (Jones 41, Beaumont 37) Good areas from Huddleston, not much more complicated than top of off stump consistency, but that’s probably what New Zealand need. Beaumont tries to disrupt that by come down the track and going for a big inside-out shot, but skews it and gets two for one that plops down in the outfield.
16th over: England 78-0 (Jones 40, Beaumont 34) More tweak for Kerr, and she keeps England quiet with a mere single from the over.
15th over: England 77-0 (Jones 40, Beaumont 33) Huddleston is back, and is greeted with a delicious on-drive from Jones that Beaumont lets go between her legs on its way to the boundary.
14th over: England 71-0 (Jones 35, Beaumont 32) Watkin is granted mercy and is hooked in favour of Amelia Kerr. Turn and bounce first up, but it’s a bit short and Beaumont can get on top of it, cutting for a single. Kerr throws in a nice googly that nearly gets through Jones, and England manage three more singles from the over.
The way New Zealand have batted in this series so far, 200 would be more than enough...
@NickMiller79 With a "glass" outfield, as you said, do we think 300 minimum to make a fight of it, for England?
— (((Ravi Nair))) (@palfreyman1414) July 13, 2018
13th over: England 67-0 (Jones 33, Beaumont 30) “Oi oi oi!” cries New Zealand wicketkeeper Katey Martin, channeling a Borscht Belt comedian after a ball that kept a little bit low from Jense. Decent over though, just one run from it.
12th over: England 66-0 (Jones 33, Beaumont 29) Jones comes down the track and tries to cart Jensen, but doesn’t time it properly and it hops to long-on. Beaumont then plays a beautifully delicate reverse sweep and this time Bezuidenhout’s dive is a fraction too late, and it’s four. Another boundary comes when Jones goes right back to a ball that really wasn’t that short, and cuts it beautifully just in front of point. A couple more from another productive over, and Watkin has gone for 24 from her two overs so far.
11th over: England 54-0 (Jones 26, Beaumont 24) Jensen gets a bit of movement through the air, swinging in at Beaumont, resulting in a big lbw shout. Beaumont’s bat was involved at some stage, but looking at the replay I think it was after it had struck pad. The ball was going on to take out middle peg, so England might have got away with one there.
10th over: England 52-0 (Jones 25, Beaumont 23) Spin now as Jess Watkin comes on, and is given some treatment straight away: Jones drives her brilliantly through the covers first ball, then from the third goes over wide mid-off, for a one-bounce four. Watkin then tries round the wicket, Jones gets a thin edge that runs along the ground towards a very fine third-man, hauled in by some brilliant fielding by Bezuidenhout. Good over for England, 12 runs from it.
9th over: England 40-0 (Jones 14, Beaumont 22) Jones plays a nice cover drive, but doesn’t quite time it and can only collect a single for her troubles.
8th over: England 38-0 (Jones 13, Beaumont 21) Devine sends down a good over until the last ball, a marginal legside wide that sounded like it might have brushed a pad. That’s the only run from the over though, and New Zealand have reined England in over the last couple.
7th over: England 37-0 (Jones 13, Beaumont 21) Strong ‘Oval in the long hot summers of the 1970s before they’d really figured out watering’ vibes from this outfield. This absurd and relentless heat has taken its toll on grass of a light, strawy brown colour, and the ball skates across it like it’s glass. Just a single from that over, mind.
6th over: England 36-0 (Jones 12, Beaumont 21) Beaumont batters a straight drive that wasn’t quite as technically correct as her previous efforts but no less effective: four more runs. A single for Jones after a leg-bye makes the England batters’ scores pleasingly palindromic.
5th over: England 30-0 (Jones 11, Beaumont 17) Change of bowling, as Hayley Jensen comes on, and keeps it pretty quiet. Two singles from the over, one from another lovely Beaumont cover drive stopped by the judiciously placed cover fence sweeper.
Updated
4th over: England 28-0 (Jones 10, Beaumont 16) Sometimes the most enjoyable shots in cricket are the ones that go in the exact opposite direction to where they were intended. To whit, Jones goes for a lusty whip through mid-wicket, it takes a leading edge and flies just to the right of third man, and they get two runs. Was actually a really good ball from Devine: a bit of extra juice, with a little away movement and would have clattered off stump if Jones had missed it entirely. A couple of balls later Beaumont picks up four with her third glorious cover drive of the afternoon, this one quite probably the best shot of them all.
3rd over: England 19-0 (Jones 7, Beaumont 10) Don’t see this that often these days: Huddleston is called for overstepping from the first two balls of the over, the second of which looked particularly harsh - in fact, entirely incorrect, because her heel was behind the line, not even on it. That ball is creamed to the boundary with another terrific Beaumont cover drive, then two more singles come from a long over.
2nd over: England 11-0 (Jones 6, Beaumont 5) Four runs quietly accumulated off Devine, two from a nice Jones clip in front of square and two other singles.
1st over: England 7-0 (Jones 3, Beaumont 4) Jones gets things started with what looks like a gentle push off the back foot that fair dashes off a very firm outfield and is eventually hauled in. From the last ball of the over Beaumont plays a shot to a similar area, but much more emphatically, a full-blooded off drive bringing the first boundary of the day.
The players are out on the field. Jones and Beaumont to open for England, Holly Huddleston has the ball for New Zealand.
Honestly I’m not sure. But if you were second in line to Sarah Taylor, you’d be forgiven for burning your gloves in a solemn ceremony surrounded by a small circle of loved ones.
@nickmiller79 I presume, from Jones being given the gloves, that Beaumont, who was long Taylor's understudy, has entirely given up on keeping?
— (((Ravi Nair))) (@palfreyman1414) July 13, 2018
Teams
England
Jones (wk), Beaumont, Winfield, Knight (c), Sciver, Wyatt, Brunt, Elwiss, Marsh, Ecclestone, Cross.
New Zealand
Watkin, Devine, Martin (wk), Satterthwaite, Bates (c), Green, Kerr, Bezuidenhout, Kasparek, Jensen, Huddleston.
Two changes for England: Sarah Taylor is rested so Lauren Winfield comes back and Amy Jones gets a go with the gloves, while Kate Cross replaces Katie George. New Zealand have also made a couple of personnel changes, but interestingly captain Suzie Bates said Jess Watkin will move up to open - she had batted eight in the previous two games - with Bates dropping down, possibly to five. Full teams to follow.
England have won the toss...
...and will bat.
Preamble
The main question ahead of this third and final ODI of this series is: will it be a contest? Because the previous two haven’t really. A win by 142 runs in Leeds at the weekend was followed by a 123 run win in Derby, England superior in every department over the two games that far. The structure of the ICC Women’s Championship, that this series is part of, means it’s not really a dead rubber as such, for victory would put England at the top of the table (admittedly having played three more games than Australia), which ultimately decides the first four qualifiers for the next World Cup.
So will England go for the old ‘foot on throat’ approach and play the full strength team again, or will they experiment a little? Might Alex Hartley get a game? Will Anya Shrubsole come back, having missed the previous two games with a side strain? Will they get funky, reverse the batting order and call Claire Taylor out of retirement to really make things interesting?
New Zealand’s big problem has obviously been two batting collapses, and arguably that exposed their reliance on the top of the order. Recently when Suzie Bates and Sophie Devine have scored runs, New Zealand have been fine. But they’ve managed a total of 99 runs between them in this series, and the rest of the batting line-up hasn’t picked up the slack.
Of course, a broader question might be: are New Zealand even bothered? As hosts of the World Cup they’re qualified already, so even though they started this nominal qualification process well, it ultimately doesn’t matter. Will they try some stuff out and make some changes? Stay tuned.
Start: 14.00 BST.
