New Zealand had a fantastic start to their World Cup campaign registering their first win in a comprehensive fashion against Ireland in their Group C encounter at Potchefstroom in the 13th match of this elusive World Cup. Winning the toss, Ireland elected to bat first.
Getting bundled out for a disappointing 74 in just 18.1 overs, Ireland clearly did not have the best possible outing with the bat. Losing Rebecca Gough early on and the run out of Siuin Woods, the skipper Ireland was in deep trouble. Adding more to the worries was another run out of Annabel Squires for 7. Georgina Dempsey’s dismissal by Natasha Codyre ensured the worst possible powerplay for Ireland as they were reeling at 18/4. Abbi Harrison and Zara Craig stitched an impressive partnership that relieved some of the scoreboard pressure but Abbi Harrison’s dismissal for 14 and Joanna Loughran’s for 9 meant Ireland was 6 wickets down. Freya Sargent was removed by Wakelin and with Zara Craig’s dismissal for 28, the tailenders were dismissed cheaply which ensured New Zealand had just 75 to chase. Codyre was phenomenal scalping three wickets bowling at an economy rate of 3 while the rest of the bowlers were supreme in their performance.
New Zealand had a fine start pummelling the Ireland batting as Anna Browning scored a quickfire 29 off 14 before she was dismissed by Georgina Dempsey but New Zealand was already well on course to victory. The finishing touches for the win were then sorted by Antonia Hamilton and Georgia Plimmer with their knocks of 18 and 17 respectively as they comprehensively outplayed Ireland chasing the target in a mere 6.5 overs.
Natasha Codyre for her figures of 3/6 was awarded the ‘Player of the Match’.
Brief Scores- IRE 74 all out in 18.1 overs (Z Craig 20, A Harrison 14; N Codyre 3/6, Tash Wakelin 2/12) lost to NZ 75/1 (A Browning 29, A Hamilton 18; G Dempsey 1/27) by 9 wickets with 79 balls remaining
🇳🇿New Zealand U19 won by 9 wickets
🇮🇪Ireland U19: 74 (18.1)
Zara Craig: 20(28)
Abbi Harrison: 14(15)
Natasha Codyre 3-6🇳🇿New Zealand U19: 75 -1 (6.5)
Anna Browning: 29 (14)
Antonia Hamilton: 18* (17)
Georgina Demsey 1-27#CricketTwitter #U19T20WorldCup pic.twitter.com/LOMNsZ1izJ— Female Cricket (@imfemalecricket) January 17, 2023
I am a first year postgraduate student pursuing a MA in Media and Communication Studies at Christ University, Bengaluru. I am a podcaster, blogger and an avid cricket fan. When not glued to cricket matches, you can find me submerged in books and thinking about cricket all the time.