Heather Knight, Sophia Dunkley seal collection for England with final-over victory

Dunkley hits penultimate ball for 4 to disclaim New Zealand in tight chase

England 145 for six (Knight 42, Kasperek 3-25) beat New Zealand 144 for 4 (Devine 35, Bates 34) by way of 4 wickets

Knight fell with 8 runs wanted however Dunkley discovered the ropes from an Amy Satterthwaite complete toss with one ball to spare.

The sight of Anya Shrubsole, who hadn’t performed any phase within the collection, on crutches and in a moon boot sooner than play was once of shock for the house aspect forward of pronouncing their squad on Saturday for the five-match ODI collection with New Zealand beginning in Bristol subsequent week. She sprained her ankle at coaching on Tuesday and, having passed through scans, will likely be assessed by way of group scientific workforce within the coming days.

Giant 3 shackled
England’s assault stored a lid on New Zealand’s vaunted most sensible order of Suzie Bates, making her 250th look for the White Ferns, Participant of the Collection Sophie Devine and Satterthwaite, all of whom have performed greater than 100 T20Is.

Tash Farrant ignored a tricky caught-and-bowled likelihood to push aside Bates for 7 in the second one over. However, after Bates swept her for 4 in entrance of sq. leg within the 7th over, Farrant answered with the following ball, sending leg stump cartwheeling with a fuller, straighter ball to push aside Bates for 34 off 30.

After a short lived stoppage when all 4 floodlight towers went out because of {an electrical} fault, Sarah Glenn got rid of Satterthwaite, who picked out Katherine Brunt – again after pulling up sore from the primary tournament – at long-on. When Sophie Ecclestone beat Devine’s tried leg-side swipe with a ball that clattered into heart and leg, New Zealand have been 90 for three within the fifteenth over.

However the vacationers controlled to attain 50 off the final 4 overs, thank you in large part to Halliday and Martin, who struck 3 fours each and every, contributing 25 and 13 respectively to boost their aspect.

Kasperek comes via
After a sedate get started, Danni Wyatt struck Devine for 4 via midwicket and 6 over long-off within the 3rd over to get the run chase transferring. Jess Kerr struck within the subsequent when Tammy Beaumont miscued to midwicket the place Devine swallowed the catch. Wyatt carried on, alternatively, serving to herself to 5 extra barriers, together with 3 at the trot off Kerr within the 6th over, via midwicket, duvet and 3rd as England completed the Powerplay 40 for 1 in comparison to New Zealand’s 37 with out loss.

But if Kasperek took two wickets in two balls, New Zealand have been neatly and in point of fact within the recreation. Dear at Chelmsford, the place she took 1 for 54, Kasperek claimed 3 for 25 from her 4 overs and ended the collection because the main wicket-taker with six at 16.50. She had Nat Sciver stuck by way of Hayley Jensen at deep midwicket after which ended Wyatt’s enterprising knock of 35 off simply 23 balls, pulling to deep sq. leg the place Thamsyn Newton took the catch. Amy Jones survived the hat-trick ball and he or she joined Knight in rebuilding the England innings.

After 10 overs, England have been 66 for three in comparison to New Zealand’s 61 for 1. Jones struck back-to-back fours off Satterthwaite’s 2d over, the twelfth of the innings, and Knight chimed in two balls later, punishing a complete toss via backward sq. leg. However Kasperek returned to the assault within the thirteenth over and, after she was once pulled for Jones’ 5th boundary, she struck two balls later, luring Jones into an tried slog and discovering an edge directly to the stumps.

Shining Knight
Knight made a welcome comeback, placing 5 fours on tips on how to her rating, together with a slog-sweep off Kasperek’s last over which bounced and cleared Newton at deep sq. leg and every other off Devine via midwicket within the nineteenth. When she picked out Bates at mid-off from Devine’s penultimate ball, England wanted 8 off seven balls. Maia Bouchier, taking part in simply her 2d tournament after making her world debut within the earlier recreation, was once bowled by way of Satterthwaite at the first ball of the overall over, heaping the power at the hosts.

However Brunt and Dunkley, who had held their nerve with a 92-run stand to defeat India, additionally at Taunton, throughout their ODI collection previous in the summertime, did so once more in truncated taste. A unmarried to Brunt adopted by way of a hard-run two to Dunkley left England wanting 4 off the final two balls. Dunkley wanted only one, smashing a 4 via midwicket to seal the tournament and the collection.