Key events
13th over: England 65-2 (Knight 19, Sciver-Brunt 20) Spin from both ends now as Jonas continues. Knight and Scover-Brunt are quite settled now, so New Zealand need to do something special to try to break it and stop the run rate continuing to climb. Jonas is bowling nicely and not giving away too many runs, but she’s not putting a lot of pressure on the batters and a misfield on the last ball gives away a boundary that New Zealand can’t afford to concede.
12th over: England 58-2 (Knight 17, Sciver-Brunt 15) We’re now seeing Amelia Kerr for the first time this match and she starts with a full toss, but some good fielding from Bates keeps it to a single. After that loosener, she hits a much better length for four consecutive dots. There’s a caught and bowled opportunity on the last, but like her sister earlier in the match, Amelia Kerr can’t take it. She gets a hand to it, but isn’t able to hold it. A good over though, just the one run from it.
11th over: England 57-2 (Knight 16, Sciver-Brunt 15) Out of the power play now and Jonas bowls the second over of her spell. Sciver-Brunt likes what she sees first ball and opens up for a one bounce four from a strong drive down the ground. She then takes a single and Jonas manages to tie Knight down for a few balls, before bowling a wide that Knight is very obvious about letting go through to the keeper.
10th over: England 50-2 (Knight 15, Sciver-Brunt 10) Rowe continues her spell, bowling her fifth over straight. She starts well, but misses her line on the second ball – it would have been a wide had Knight left it, but she gets her bat in the way and guides it over to the legside for four. Typically Rowe gets the line right next ball – she’s given away a few loose balls today, but she has been good at tidying up in response. Unfortunately she gives away another wide, then bowls a sensational ball that just misses the stumps, catching Knight’s inside edge on the way and flies away to the boundary for another four. It’s disappointing for Rowe who has bowled very well so far to have such an expensive over.
9th over: England 39-2 (Knight 5, Sciver-Brunt 10) Fran Jonas comes into the attack now – bringing spin in early. It’s the first time New Zealand have used spin in the power play in this series, so that shows how important they think spin will be today. The opening bowlers did their job, but Devine is aware of England consolidating through the middle overs when New Zealand have struggled to take wickets, so it makes sense to try something new. It’s a good start from her, keeping England from opening up.
8th over: England 35-2 (Knight 4, Sciver-Brunt 7) Rowe keeps on finding that almost perfect line and this time it’s Knight who’s getting frustrated. But Rowe gives her an opportunity with a missed length on an attempted bouncer, that turns out more like a half track and Knight pulls it away for a single. Then she gives away a wide down legside next ball. Sciver-Brunt settles and gets a nice cut shot away – almost to the boundary, but it’s cut off by some good fielding to restrict her to three.
7th over: England 30-2 (Knight 3, Sciver-Brunt 4) Jess Kerr continues after her successful last over and Knight immediately scrambles through for a single to keep the score moving. Sciver-Brunt gets a single next ball, she’s seeing more hittable balls from Kerr. The experience of these two batters is clear – often you see batting teams going into their shell or trying to hit the ball out of the park on every delivery after a frustrating maiden. But these two know they need to build back into the game steadily and are making those singles work for them.
6th over: England 27-2 (Knight 1, Sciver-Brunt 3) A great over from Rowe, a maiden bowled at Sciver-Brunt, who can’t get her away and is starting to look frustrated.
5th over: England 27-2 (Knight 1, Sciver-Brunt 3) Jess Kerr continues her spell – she’s getting plenty of swing, but is struggling with her line a little and the England batters are finding her easier to deal with than Rowe at the moment. But no sooner do I think that, than she changes up her delivery and gets the big wicket of Bouchier. Plenty of experience in the middle for England now with Knight and Sciver-Brunt, let’s see if they can get this innings back on track.
WICKET! Bouchier c Plimmer b J Kerr 17 (England 24-2)
Bouchier was flying and then all of a sudden she gets over confident and tries to hit Jess Kerr out of the park, but all she can do is catch a top edge and send the ball straight up in the air for a regulation catch for Plimmer.
4th over: England 22-1 (Knight 1, Bouchier 17) Rowe starts the over with a wide, just drifting down legside past Beaumont. But the next ball she recovers her line brilliantly to dismiss Beaumont LBW, bringing England captain Heather Knight to the crease. Knight only takes one ball to settle before she gets a quick single to get herself off the mark and bring the dominant batter in Bouchier back into the action. An excellent over from Rowe.
WICKET! Beaumont lbw Rowe 3 (England 20-1)
Rowe gets her line exactly right and the ball slams into Beaumont’s pad. She reviews, which is a terrible decision, as three reds light up and she has to go.
3rd over: England 19-0 (Beaumont 3, Bouchier 16) Looking at the ICC Women’s Championship standings for ODIs and England can leapfrog South Africa into second place with a win here today. Another over from Kerr here and Beaumont seems to be content with quick singles and rotating strike, while Bouchier is playing the more aggressive role. There’s a caught and bowled chance for Kerr with Bouchier playing one straight back to her, but it goes flying just above her hands.
2nd over: England 8-0 (Beaumont 2, Bouchier 6) Hannah Rowe takes the new ball from the other end and gets a little bit of away swing to start. This is the same opening bowling combination they used in the last ODI. They picked up a wicket in the ninth over then, so will hope they replicate or better that this time. Bouchier looks to have settled well into this match, she’s timing it very well and taking the opportunities when they come her way.
1st over: England 5-0 (Beaumont 1, Bouchier 4) Jess Kerr takes the new ball and gets us underway at Seddon Park. The ground is looking a little worse for wear, sone of those alternative pitches look like they’re looking forward to a nice break from cricket. Beaumont gets off strike with a quick single from the first ball, she’s looking confident from the get go. Bouchier gets the first boundary of the game when Kerr gives a ball too much width and it’s an easy little guide to the boundary for four. Kerr tightens up her line in response and finishes the over well.
For those wondering, Alice Capsey was not available for selection today.
No rain on the radar today, so it looks like we’ll get a full match in, despite a few clouds hanging around. It’s about 20 degrees, so nice conditions for the game – not too hot or cold. Quite balmy for this time of year in New Zealand really!
Two changes for England, with Lauren Filer and Sophia Dunkley coming in, while New Zealand bring in Eden Carson for the first time this series. She’s a spinner and it looks like having extra spin will be a good idea today!
Toss and teams
England have won the toss and chosen to bat.
New Zealand XI
Suzie Bates, Georgia Plimmer, Amelia Kerr, Sophie Devine (c), Maddy Green, Brooke Halliday, Izzy Gaze (wk), Hannah Rowe, Jess Kerr, Eden Carson, Fran Jonas
England XI
Tammy Beaumont, Maia Bouchier, Heather Knight (c), Natalie Sciver-Brunt, Sophia Dunkley, Danielle Wyatt, Amy Jones (wk), Sophie Ecclestone, Charlie Dean, Kate Cross, Lauren Filer
Preamble
Good morning / afternoon / middle of the night cricket lovers all over the world. Here we are at the final game of this England tour of New Zealand – we’ve had five T20s and two ODIs so far. New Zealand have only managed one win for the series, a three-run win in the third T20. England have been dominant across all the other games, despite being away from home. New Zealand’s biggest challenge for this final ODI will be finding a way to bat out their full 50 overs, something they have not managed in the first two matches of this series. Some big scores from their experienced players will be needed if they want to finish this series with a win. For England, they will be aiming to keep going the way they have been – depth down the order has been key for them, with Amy Jones and Charlie Dean getting them out of trouble in the first ODI. It should be a fascinating match, so let’s get into it!
