Key events
15th over: New Zealand 98-5 (Gaze 10, Rowe 1) Lauren Bell returns and there are just four runs off her third over. Whereas England exploded at the end of their innings New Zealand have struggled to find the boundary and the required run rate has climbed out of sight.
14th over: New Zealand 94-5 (Gaze 7, Rowe 0) Slip sliding away… Hannah Rowe heads out to the middle. 84 from 36, time to give it some humpty.
WICKET! Halliday c Dean b Ecclestone 25 (New Zealand 94-5)
Ecclestone returns and snaffles Halliday by taking the pace off and tossing it up, a lofted drive is caught in the breeze and, more specifically, caught by Charlie Dean at long on.
13th over: New Zealand 90-4 (Halliday 22, Gaze 6) Miserly over from Charlie Dean that pretty much seals New Zealand’s fate. Just three runs off it as Halliday struggles to get the ball off the square. 88 needed from 42 balls.
12th over: New Zealand 87-4 (Halliday 19, Gaze 6) A better over for the White Ferns as Nat Sciver-Brunt is worked for ten off her latest, Halliday looking to attack off every ball. 91 needed from 48.
11th over: New Zealand 77-3 (Halliday 10, Gaze 5) Wicketkeeper Isabella Gaze is the new batter, she drives Gibson down the ground for four second ball. Punchy.
WICKET! Bezuidenhout c Dean b Gibson 23 (New Zealand 72-4)
Gibson strikes to get rid of Bezuidenhout, New Zealand slipping away in Wellington.
10th over: New Zealand 64-3 (Bezuidenhout 23, Halliday 10) Ecclestone looks thoroughly displeased as Halliday clubs her over the top for four. Ten overs done and New Zealand need 106 from 60 balls.
9th over: New Zealand 64-3 (Bezuidenhout 21, Halliday 4) Heather Knight brings herself on for the middle over squeeze. Six singles taken off the over but it isn’t enough for the home side as the series is slipping out of view.
Squeeze
8th over: New Zealand 58-3 (Bezuidenhout 18, Halliday 1) Brooke Halliday is the new batter. England all over New Zealand like the proverbial discount three piece.
WICKET! Green c Jones b Dean 7 (New Zealand 50-3)
Maddy Green walks! A tiny tickle on an attempted sweep lands in Amy Jones’ gloves and the batter trots off before the umpire can get the digit raised.
7th over: New Zealand 50-2 (Bezuidenhout 11, Green 7) Here comes Sophie Ecclestone. Left arm twirling, ponytail bobbing. She’s straight on the moolah and there are just three runs off the over…
6th over: New Zealand 47-2 (Bezuidenhout 9, Green 6) NSB spears one down the leg side and Amy Jones pulls off a wonderful diving take to save four wides. Green swipes at two deliveries but to no avail before clubbing a boundary to finish the over.
Is there anybody alive out there? Drop me a line and keep my company if you are. It’s just ticked around to 2am and I just wanna hear some rhythm receive some emails.
5th over: New Zealand 40-2 (Bezuidenhout 8, Green 1) Maddy Green is the new batter and Dean nearly cleans her up with a looping delivery. New Zealand have to score runs and with that comes risk, there’s no time for the new batter’s to get their eye in.
WICKET! Amelia Kerr c Dunkley b Dean 21 (New Zealand 38-2)
The very next ball after slapping Charlie Dean away through the leg side for four Kerr tries to rinse and repeat but can’t clear Dunkley behind square. A sharp chance well taken.
ICYMI: Sarah Glenn has been ruled out of the rest of this series and the start of the ODIs too.
4th over: New Zealand 27-1 (Kerr 15, Bezuidenhout 7) Dani Gisbon into the attack and she starts well with a blue line trimming yorker. Bezuidenhout cuts the next ball away for four. A single follows. SHOT! Kerr takes a step down and scythes Gibson away through point for four more. Ten runs off the over.
3rd over: New Zealand 17-1 (Kerr 10, Bezuidenhout 2) Kerr dispatches Lauren Bell down the ground for four but the bowler responds with a beauty that climbs off a length and slides just past the edge. Seven runs off the over as New Zealand look to rebuild.
2nd over: New Zealand 10-1 (Kerr 5, Bezuidenhout 1) Nat Sciver-Brunt is given the second over by Knight. Kerr works off her pads for a couple and the fabulously named Bernadine Bezuidenhout opens her account with a drive to mid on.
1st over: New Zealand 5-1 (Kerr 1, Bezuidenhout 0) Amelia Kerr out to the middle in the first over and she’s off the mark first ball to keep strike.
WICKET! Bates c Nat Sciver-Brunt b Bell 4 (New Zealand 4-1)
Gah! Not an ideal start – Suzie Bates is foxed by the cross seam delivery by Lauren Bell and offers up a simple catch to short mid-wicket. England amongst the White Ferns already.
Not enough time for a graveyard shift brew. Here come the players…
Cripes
England rack up 177-3 off 20 overs!
Brutal last over form Knight and Sciver-Brunt, 18 runs off it with four boundaries. Reverse scoops, drives, cuts and pulls. The full gamut. New Zealand a flogged silly and can’t wait to get off the park. The England pair run off with mucho intentos after the final ball is lofted for four.
Knight finished on a rapid 21 off nine balls and Nat Sciver-Brunt a very handy 29 off 14 balls
19th over: England 159-3 (Sciver-Brunt 20, Knight 12) Rosemary Mair bowls her last over but she can’t stem the flow – Knight drives through point for four and then hits the gaps to pick up three consecutive twos. All set for a big last over…
18th over: England 147-3 (Sciver-Brunt 19, Knight 1) Heather Knight is the new batter, a tip and run brings NSB back on strike and she finishes the over with a drive for four. Three boundaries and wicket off the over. two to go.
WICKET! Bouchier c Bates b A Kerr 91 (England 142-3)
Bouchier hits back to back boundaries to enter the 90s but perishes going for another, a lofted drive doesn’t quite have the elevation and is clung onto by Amelia Kerr. An breathtaking innings comes to an end, take a bow Maia Bouchier!
17th over: England 134-2 (Bouchier 83, Sciver-Brunt 3) England march on! Twelve runs off the over as Nat Sciver Brunt springs into action. A ramp fine for four and then a smear down the ground.
16th over: England 122-1 (Bouchier 83, Sciver-Brunt 3) Ten runs off the over as New Zealand look very flat in the face of this England batting display. Bouchier hits her 12th boundary of the innings, NSB is happy to give her the strike and let her do her thing. Four more overs of potential leather chasing to go for the drooping White Ferns.
15th over: England 112-1 (Bouchier 75, Sciver-Brunt 1) Nat Sciver-Brunt joins Bouchier in the middle and is off the make with a single first ball. SIX! Bouchier clubs Kerr down the ground for a biggun to go past her highest score in the format. She’s on for a ton here!
WICKET! Capsey st Gaze b Jonas 25 (England 104-2)
Capsey loses sight of the ball attempting a sweep and wanders out of her ground, Gaze gathers the ball and whips off the bails with the batter well out of her ground. A careless bit of cricket from Capsey means her day with the bat is done.
14th over: England 104-1 (Bouchier 68, Capsey 25) That’s the hundred up for England. New Zealand need to channel this guy and pick up some wickets pronto:
13th over: England 98-1 (Bouchier 63, Capsey 24) Rosemary Mair into her third over, Bouchier shimmies down the wicket and drives through point for four. Nine runs from the over, the camera pans to the ‘Engine room’ of Nat Sciver-Brunt and Heather Knight padded up but looking extremely relaxed on the boundary edge.
12th over: England 89-1 (Bouchier 54, Capsey 23) The partnership between Capsey and Bouchier is now looking ominous for New Zealand. Capsey picks up four with a lofted cover drive and is happy to then work Amelia Kerr around for the rest of the over. News filters through that Sophie Devine has indeed picked up a tweak and won’t be on the field for the rest of the England innings. A real shame for her.
11th over: England 81-1 (Bouchier 54, Capsey 14) Maia Bouchier goes to a successive T20I fifty by shunting Hannah Rowe down the ground and then showing off a deft touch by reverse ramping for another four.
10th over: England 72-1 (Bouchier 46, Capsey 15) Sophie Devine has left the field and we aren’t sure why. Hopefully just a ‘comfort’ break and not an injury. Jess Kerr is driven down the ground for four by Bouchier and then clipped off the pads for a brace. DROP! Kerr spills a simple return catch, the ball bursting through the fingers and stopping dead at her feet. Bouchier offers a relieved grin. Should have been taken. England setting a platform, 72 scored off the first ten and nine wickets in the bank.
9th over: England 63-1 (Bouchier 38, Capsey 14) Fran Jonas is scythed through the off side by Capsey. Both batters putting away the looser balls and rotating strike well to pick up singles. The run rate is rising.
8th over: England 54-1 (Bouchier 36, Capsey 8) Amelia Kerr pitches too full and is smoked away through cover by Bouchier. Another fantastic stroke. Bowlers struggling with the stiff breeze, a short ball from Kerr is worked away fine for four more.
7th over: England 43-1 (Bouchier 26, Capsey 7) Devine loses her run up in the wind and sends down a half tracker, Bouchier only too pleased to rock back and swat away fine for four. Better over for England, both batters scampering quick singles to make it eight runs pocketed.
6th over: England 35-1 (Bouchier 20, Capsey 5) Fran Jonas into the attack and its a useful first over from her, just four runs collected off it. Sophie Devine is going to give herself a bowl with the next, she used all her experience in the last game at Nelson to put the pressure on England. This is a decent start from the home side, England haven’t been able to get away.
5th over: England 31-1 (Bouchier 19, Capsey 2) Alice Capsey comes in at first drop. Mair keeps her honest with four dots before a couple are clipped away off the last to get Capsey off the mark.
WICKET! Wyatt c Gaze b Mair 9 (England 29-1)
Mair returns and sends one out wide of off stump, Wyatt has a flash at it and gets a tickle to the keeper. New Zealand have their first.
4th over: England 29-0 (Wyatt 9, Bouchier 19) Bouchier is in blistering form, she pulls Jess Kerr to the boundary with all the time in the world.
3rd over: England 22-0 (Wyatt 8, Bouchier 13) Hannah Rowe replaces Mair after just one over. She spears the ball into the middle of the pitch where it is soon greeted by a disdainful pull shot from Danni Wyatt! That four makes Wyatt the highest run scorer for England in T20I cricket, a banger to secure the milestone. Wyatt swats Rowe for three more into the leg side before Bouchier ends the over with a magnificent straight drive on the up and down the ground for SIX! That was some shot, I’m going to seek out the clip on social meedja becuase you need to have a gawp at it.
2nd over: England 8-0 (Wyatt 1, Bouchier 6) Watery sunshine now in Wellington as Jess Kerr shares the new ball. She’s full, straight and accurate. Just two singles off the over. The pitch has a green tinge and there’s a hint of movement from both seamers.
1st over: England 6-0 (Wyatt 0, Bouchier 5) DROP! Maia Bouchier gets out the broom handle and plays at a wide ball with hands miles away from her body. The edge flies to Sophie Devine at first slip but the New Zealand captain thinks keeper Isabella Gaze is going to go for it and ends up flinching underneath the ball as it passes. A let off for Bouchier and England’s first boundary. Six runs off the first over from Rosemary Mair.
The players emerge onto the outfield at a chilly and blustery looking Basin Reserve. Maia Bouchier has been promoted up the order and will open with the returning Danni Wyatt. Wyatt has been at the WPL but hasn’t played any cricket for the last month, she’s been keeping the bench tepid for UP Warriorz.
Ton up!
A significant century will be brought up tonight.
This match will mark the first time that an unbroken run of 100 England women’s home & away fixtures (a sequence which began in January 2020) has been shown by UK television broadcasters.#NZvENG https://t.co/CxPO6Mwzx7
— hypocaust (@_hypocaust) March 26, 2024
I’ll be doing a bit of this from my sofa in the wee small hours, most likely utilising a dressing gown robe and a stray sock.
ICYMI: Ashes dates announced for 2025
New Zealand win the toss and will bowl first!
Cloudy by the looks of it in Wellington but all fine and we should be underway on time. England’s four big hitters return: Capsey, Wyatt, Sciver-Brunt and Eccleston. Sessions.
Preamble
Hello and welcome to the OBO of the fourth T20I between New Zealand and England from Wellington*.
In Nelson on Sunday, a dramatic collapse from Heather Knight’s side and a steely final over from the White Ferns’ veteran Suzie Bates saw New Zealand snatch victory and keep the series alive.
2-1 to England then with two games to play, will the visitors manage to right the wrongs of the weekend and claim the series? At 127-2 and the game seemingly in the knapsack England somehow conspired to lose. Needing just 29 runs off 29 balls (with a buffer of eight wickets in hand) they spluttered and stumbled to 152-8, falling short by three and letting the home side back into the series.
England are bolstered by their big guns returning from the WPL and will have also been particularly pleased by the scintillating form shown by Maia Bouchier in the last game. The 25 year old batter peppering the fence with 11 fours and a six on her way to a seemingly match (and series winning) 71 from 47 balls. Her wicket in the 15th over started the English willow rot**.
Play starts at midnight GMT/1pm local time, do drop us a line if you are tuning in. I’ll be back with news of the teams and toss very shortly.
*The Cello Basin Reserve no less, which obviously brings this to mind:
“Cello, you’ve got a… Basin Reserve”
**Which is sort of like Dutch Elm Disease but also, not really.
