Sophie Ecclestone, Nat Sciver-Brunt and skipper Heather Knight shine for England as they continue their dominance to seal the T20I series 4-1 against New Zealand.
The New Zealand women’s team conceded the T20I series courtesy of their 47-run defeat in the 4th T20I. The home side suffered a huge blow as they lost their skipper Sophie Devine courtesy of her quadriceps injury and as a result, was ruled out of the 5th T20I. Georgia Plimmer was called in as a replacement for her.
The stand-in skipper for white ferns Amelia Kerr won the toss and opted to bat first. New Zealand got off to a poor start, losing a couple of wickets, including the wicket of their skipper Amelia Kerr in the first three overs of the innings. Georgia Plimmer joined Suzie Bates for New Zealand at the crease and the duo stitched a 19-run partnership for the 3rd wicket before Charlie Dean picked up the wicket of Suzie Bates to provide the 3rd breakthrough for England. Georgia Plimmer soon followed her back to the pavilion to provide the 4th breakthrough.
Brooke Halliday joined Maddy Green at the crease and the duo stitched a crucial 38-run partnership for the 5th wicket before Sophie Ecclestone picked up the wicket of Maddy Green to provide the 5th breakthrough for her side. Wicket-keeper batter Isabella Gaze joined Brooke Halliday at the crease and the duo stitched another crucial 56-run partnership for the 6th wicket, the highest 6th-wicket partnership for New Zealand in the T20I format, surpassing the 42-run stand between Katey Martin and Bernadine Bezuidenhout against Australia at the North Sydney Oval, Sydney on 29th September 2018.
Sophie Ecclestone came back and picked up the wicket of Brooke Halliday to provide the 6th breakthrough for England. New Zealand eventually ended up with a total of 136/6 in their quota of overs. Wicket-keeper batter Isabella Gaze (51 off 28 balls), and Brooke Halliday (33 off 40 balls) were the top performers with the bat for New Zealand. Sophie Ecclestone (4-0-30-3), and Nat Sciver-Brunt (4-0-24-2) were the top performers with the ball for England.
Chasing a target of 137, the England openers got off to a steady start before they lost the wicket of their in-form batter Maia Bouchier in the 3rd over of the run chase. Lea Tahuhu provided the first breakthrough for New Zealand. Alice Capsey joined Danielle Wyatt at the crease and the duo stitched a crucial 29-run partnership for the 2nd wicket before the stand-in skipper Amelia Kerr picked up the wicket of Alice Capsey to provide the 2nd breakthrough for her side.
Nat Sciver-Brunt joined Danielle Wyatt at the crease and the duo stitched a 19-run partnership for the 3rd wicket before Amelia Kerr picked up the wicket of Danielle Wyatt to provide the 3rd breakthrough for New Zealand and bag her 2nd wicket of the day. Skipper Heather Knight joined Nat Sciver-Brunt at the crease and the duo stitched a much-needed 57-run partnership for the 4th wicket before the stand-in skipper Amelia Kerr came back and picked up the crucial wicket of Nat Sciver-Brunt to provide the 4th breakthrough for her side.
England eventually got over the line by five wickets and seven balls to spare to end the T20I series (4-1) on a high. Skipper Heather Knight (35 off 28 balls), Nat Sciver-Brunt (31 off 27 balls), and Alice Capsey (25 off 22 balls) were the top performers with the bat for England. Amelia Kerr (4-0-30-3), Lea Tahuhu (4-0-26-1), and Rosemary Mair (3.5-0-28-1) were the top performers with the ball for New Zealand.
Nat Sciver-Brunt was awarded the Player of the Match for her brilliant match-winning performance returning with the match figures (4-0-24-2) with the ball and scoring (31 off 27 balls) with the bat, alongside the other batters who chipped in with handy contributions to help England seal the T20I series by a 4-1 margin against the home side, New Zealand. Maia Bouchier was awarded the Player of the Series for scoring 223 runs in five innings at an impressive average of 55.75.