Clinical England claim tri-series title with victory over New Zealand
A clinical performance from England Women saw them claim the T20 tri-series title as they defeated New Zealand by seven wickets in the final at Chelmsford. A dominant bowling and fielding display and a professional batting effort saw them brush aside their opponents with real ease as they reached their victory target with 17 balls to spare.
New Zealand actually got off to a decent start with Sophie Devine and Susie Bates getting them to 55 halfway through the sixth over. They looked set for a big total on what appeared to be a batting friendly pitch with a quick outfield.
That changed with Katherine Brunt claiming two LBWs in the space of three balls to have New Zealand 57/2 at the end of the batting PowerPlay with Devine (31) and Katey Martin (2) both dismissed. New Zealand never really recovered from there as wickets continued to fall at regular intervals meaning the visitors never really reclaimed that early momentum.
Bates was the next to go, bowled by Sophie Ecclestone for 31, playing back to an arm ball. When Danni Hazzel had Amy Satterthwaite trapped LBW for 19 the New Zealand top order was gutted with them 97/4 after 13 overs.
In the end some minor late order contributions from New Zealand helped them to 137/9, a creditable total but it always seemed too few against an England batting lineup that has been firing in recent weeks.
England broke the back of the chase very early with Danni Wyatt and Tammy Beaumont getting them off to a flying start. Wyatt made 50 from just 35 balls, her third fifty in T20Is. She was brutal on anything that offered her any width and by the time she was dismissed, giving a catch to short third man off the bowling of Bates, England more than halfway to their target with 10.3 overs left to go.
Beaumont played some nice shots but she was not as explosive as Wyatt, making 35 from 33 balls before she was caught at long on off the bowling of Amelia Kerr.
Kerr made it two wickets in two balls when she bowled Sarah Taylor through the gate with a beautiful googly to leave England with two batters at the crease who had yet to face a ball. Had New Zealand made another 20 runs England finding themselves 102/3 with seven overs to go may have caused them some issues, but the victory target already so close there were few alarms for the rest of the chase.
Whereas New Zealand have been so dependent on Bates and Devine making runs for them, England have a much longer batting line up. Heather Knight and Nat Sciver had a partnership of 29 balls that sealed the win for England and allowed them to claim the tri-series title.