Key events
England need 208 to win the First ODI
Adam Collins
Righto, that’s me done for the night. Thanks for your company. Joining you for the chase in a little bit with be Tanya Aldred. Drop her a line at any time. Bye!
WICKET! Kerr b Bell 9 (11). NEW ZEALAND ALL OUT 207.
Bowled her! Around the wicket, Kerr missed and Bell hit – she finishes with 3/41. They lose the last ten wickets for 117. All up, 169 dot balls. It all started in the power play: just 30 runs with the field up. A poor showing from the hosts, there’s no sugarcoating it: they’re just not good enough to consistently compete against Australia and England anymore. Of course, it didn’t help that the visitors – especially Kate Cross with 2/24 from 10) – bowled so well. But the White Ferns let them bowl well to them through multiple quiet periods where the scoreboard pressure wasn’t there.
48th over: New Zealand 207-9 (Kerr 9, Jonas 0) Fran Jonas is in at No11 and gets bat on ball twice with a couple of short-arm jabs, but neither beat the inner ring.
WICKET! Tahuhu c Wyatt b Dean 1 (2). New Zealand 207-9
Tahuhu tries to clear long-on but doesn’t get enough of it to clear Wyatt, who does well diving forward to make a tough catch look easy. Dean now has three wickets.
WICKET! Gaze b Bell 18 (23). New Zealand 204-8
Once again NZ lose a wicket from the final ball of the over, Bell hitting low on the middle stump when Gaze gave her something to aim at when jumping across her stumps for a lap shot. Again, very nice death bowling with plenty of moving parts.
47th over: New Zealand 204-8 (Kerr 7)
46th over: New Zealand 197-7 (Gaze 13, Kerr 5) Ecclestone to Jess Kerr, who mows her penultimate ball through midwicket for four but it’s a job well done from the No1 bowler going around: that was just the second boundary off her, finishing with 1/39.
WICKET! Rowe c Knight b Sciver-Brunt 16 (20). New Zealand 191-7
That’s a beeeeautiful back-of-the-hand slower ball from Sciver-Brunt, leaping off the surface at Rowe who helps it to cover. All at just 84kpm. It completes an over where only four runs were found until the point where Rowe was lost for the hosts.
45th over: New Zealand 191-7 (Gaze 10)
44th over: New Zealand 187-6 (Gaze 10, Rowe 14) Shot, Hannah Rowe. Gets a little bit of length to work with from Ecclestone so she goes back with purpose and cuts hard through a gap in the covers for a second boundary. But Ecclestone steps up to the new challenge, beating Rowe then keeping her guessing. All told, just five from the over when, with a four in there, they should be finding a way to make twice that many.
43rd over: New Zealand 182-6 (Gaze 10, Rowe 9) Rowe makes the call to take on Sciver-Brunt and picks her up over long-off for what looks a certain six but it half-volleys over the rope for four. But it’s a lovely shot all the same, the best of a limp NZ innings. NSB responds by going short and Rowe looks less comfortable looking but gets away with it to retain the strike. Can she find a way to find the rope off Ecclestone now?
42nd over: New Zealand 173-6 (Gaze 9, Rowe 2) And now Heather Knight can casually throw the ball to Sophie Ecclestone with three overs still to send down. We like Hannah Rowe as a cricketer, she has a lot going for her, but the degree of difficulty here is high and the three dots to finish the over to her are seemingly inevitable.
There have now been 151 dot balls in the innings, TV tells me. Not at all good.
41st over: New Zealand 170-6 (Gaze 7, Rowe 1) Bell is banging it into the turf per the plan in the final ten overs, taking pace off. It works – no boundaries, five runs only in the smaller coins. This is an area of her game that had to improve from where she was at against India back in 2022 and this is a good sign of that growth.
Oh, I missed before that Halliday was Dean’s 50th ODI scalp – in a hurry, too. Star.
Charlie Dean becomes the fastest woman to take 50 ODI wickets, breaking a record that had stood since 1987:
Innings bowled
26 Charlie Dean (ENG)
27 Lyn Fullston (AUS)
28 Laura Marsh (ENG); Rajeshwari Gayakwad (IND)
29 Charmaine Mason (AUS); Dane van Niekerk (SA)#NZvENG pic.twitter.com/h1gWSZLIE1— hypocaust (@_hypocaust) April 1, 2024
40th over: New Zealand 165-6 (Gaze 3, Rowe 0) Dean sprays one, three wides for the hosts. But when that’s the highlight, well, you get a sense of where this is going for NZ.
WICKET! Green c&b Bell 7 (23). New Zealand 159-6
Bell also has four left, back now. Izzy Gaze, the 19yo ‘keeper, is off the mark with an aerial flick. Can Maddy Green step up and lift her scoring rate here? No, she can not: leading edge, caught and bowled. Soft dismissal just when the White Ferns needed a senior player. Instead, she walks off dismissed cheaply with a strike rate of 30.
39th over: New Zealand 159-6 (Gaze 1)
WICKET! Halliday c Jones b Dean 6 (13). New Zealand 157-5
Dean is the first spinner to return and she’s been the most expensive bowler on show today (1/43 off 6) without bowling particularly badly. Halliday comes down the track to her and drives her through cover for four – that’s the first boundary in 12 overs. But it’s a great response, finding the edge of Halliday, safely snaffled by the ever-reliable Jones. The left-hander sends it upstairs but I’m not sure why – she’s clearly smashed it, so confirmed by technology. Limping along now, the White Ferns.
38th over: New Zealand 157-5 (Green 6)
37th over: New Zealand 152-4 (Green 5, Halliday 2) The squeeze from the seamers since they replaced Dean and Ecclestone has been immense. With Jones up to the stumps, who completes another classy take here, they can almost use them like spinners too with the batters unable to mess with the lengths. Sure enough, Cross finishes her excellent ten overs with a maiden – her final analysis: 10-3-24-2.
36th over: New Zealand 152-4 (Green 5, Halliday 2) And whaddayaknow, Sciver-Brunt starts with four dots on the bounce, then finishes with two singles. It’s been 62 deliveries and 41 minutes since New Zealand’s last boundary. Nowhere near it.
35th over: New Zealand 150-4 (Green 4, Halliday 1) We go RH/LH for New Zealand for the first time but the issue is, at No6 they have another player with plenty of international experience in Brooke Halliday who has never looked like being able to take the step up as an international matchwinner. With 15 overs to go, the visitors can like manage this innings to the finish line, whether they take wickets or not.
WICKET! Kerr lbw b Cross 24 (36) New Zealand 148-4
What a gem of a ball that was, once again squaring up a right-hander, this hitting the middle stump three-quarters of the way up. Cross has 2/22 (8.1) – superb stuff.
HAS CROSS GOT KERR LBW? A replica of the Plimmer dismissal, given out on the field but sent upstairs by the New Zealand skipper. Over to DRS.
34th over: New Zealand 148-3 (Kerr 24, Green 3) Sciver’s turn to dig into her bag of tricks, rolling out cutters in both directions and I think I spied a back-of-the-hand slower ball in there too. Three off the over. From here, it almost certainly has to be Melia Kerr getting herself to do something special or they’re going to be well short.
33rd over: New Zealand 145-3 (Kerr 22, Green 2) Cross starts with another peach of a delivery, squaring up Kerr just as she did Plimmer but Chris Brown this time keeps his finger down on the basis of height… super bowling, though. Next up, she beats Green, the new player in at No5. What a luxury for England being able to bring Jones up to the stumps and making it look so easy, as TV goes through in a nice package they clearly prepared earlier. As for Green, she’s never cracked the code as an international batter.
32nd over: New Zealand 142-3 (Kerr 21, Green 1) Just the over England wanted after the wicket – three singles off Sciver-Brunt, who is playing her role. One thing to note though: Plimmer should’ve reviewed… TV shows the projection and it was going over!
WICKET! Plimmer lbw b Cross 17 (24). New Zealand 139-3
After drinks, it’s Cross who returns to replace Dean – the England attack-leader has four overs up her sleeve. With Jones up to the stumps, she’s beating Plimmer right away with one that hits the seam. On TV, Alex Hartley is arguing the corner of her partner in crime, saying she should be in the T20 squad as well – seems odd that she isn’t. Indeed, this is her first outing for England since September. After moving one away earlier in the over, to Plimmer she gets one to come back and it is nearly spooned to a waiting catcher at midwicket inside the ring. One ball to go and Cross gets the wicket she so richly deserves. Plimmer is squared up a treat, caught on the crease, hit on the back pad and she isn’t going to refer it. Having beaten the bat on seven occasions in her first spell, that’s well-earned by England’s No1.
31st over: New Zealand 139-3 (Kerr 19)
30th over: New Zealand 135-2 (Kerr 18, Plimmer 14) Sciver-Brunt returns to give Ecclestone three to bowl at the death – a role she relishes more than most tweakers. And through the over with four singles – that’s a win for the visitors with their fifth bowler. Drinks are on the field with New Zealand needing a run a ball to reach 250ish.
29th over: New Zealand 131-2 (Kerr 16, Plimmer 12) Plimmer tries to take on Dean around the wicket and nearly ends up gifting a catch to Sciver-Brunt – lucky to get away with that. Kerr is better on the sweep, hitting it with authority, albeit for one. Plimmer’s turn again and drives a wider offering through a small gap in the covers for three more – good cricket. Kerr keeps the strike with a single – better over for NZ. Against the flow of play really, Dean has gone at 7.2 overs with her 1/43 (6) so far.
28th over: New Zealand 124-2 (Kerr 13, Plimmer 8) With Ecclestone, it’s all subtle – tiny changes to her release point creating more dramatic changes of pace – you’ve got to be on it; there are no easy runs. Four off this over – she’s already sent down 7!
27th over: New Zealand 120-2 (Kerr 12, Plimmer 5) Kerr is the batter most likely for New Zealand’s middle order, especially in the absence of Devine. Leading this team in one-day cricket for the first time today, she’ll need to be at her most enterprising. A boundary off Dean to begin the over shows intent, as does her willingness to go across her stumps to attempt the trick shots that so dominate the modern game. Helped along by a ball that run away down the legside, this over of 15r runs was badly needed.
26th over: New Zealand 105-2 (Kerr 5, Plimmer 2) Bates’ dismissal put a stop to New Zealand’s only positive passage of play so far. Since then, it’s England putting the anchors on again with overs of 3, 2 and 2 – this time Ecclestone was getting it right, four dots following two singles. And all done with a smile on her face. Loves it.
25th over: New Zealand 103-2 (Kerr 4, Plimmer 1) This is where Ecclestone and Dean are so good in tandem in the middle overs of ODIs – both accurate and both able to get back to their mark to keep the pressure on the batters. In this case, a couple of singles from the off-spinner and that’s their lot, all in a flash of time. The White Ferns will surely need to go at better than a run a ball from here to get to a credible target.
24th over: New Zealand 101-2 (Kerr 3, Plimmer 0) Georgia Plimmer, the youngster in her hometown who was recalled to the national team last week, is in at No4. Her international numbers across 35 matches are poor, averaging 12 in ODIs and 11 in T20is, but she did have a pretty good ‘A’ series against England, thus the 20-year-old’s return.
WICKET! Bezuidenhout lbw b Ecclestone 33 (62). New Zealand 100-2
The ball after the White Ferns bring up their 100, Bezuidenhout is undone with an ugly swipe across the line against Ecclestone – she missed, the back pad was hit, the finger goes up. No reviewing that. An altogether unconvincing innings comes to an end.
23rd over: New Zealand 98-1 (Bezuidenhout 33, Kerr 3) Five off Charlie Dean and, spoiler, you’re going to want to read the next post as… there’s a development.
22nd over: New Zealand 93-1 (Bezuidenhout 31, Kerr 1) Alright, I’ve managed to get TNT on my actual telly, so we’re just about back in business here tethering my computer to data. Boring, boring but here we are. Sorry! On the field: the captain is in at No3 and is off the mark first ball. Three from Ecclestone’s over.
WICKET! Bates st Jones b Dean 50 (74). New Zealand 90-1
Just when New Zealand were having a good 20 minutes or so, the 21st over, where eight runs had been taken to that point with runs from each ball, ends with Bates running past one and getting herself stumped. Charlie Dean has a golden arm.
