Unstoppable Beaumont continues hot streak as Davies sets up England win

Chasing 124 to win, England got the job done with 2.4 overs to spare and six wickets in hand.

Once again opening batter Tammy Beaumont was at the heart of the victory.

Beaumont hit seven fours and one six on her way to a 53-ball 63, putting on 83 runs with captain Heather Knight (39) along the way.

The half-century continued Beaumont's incredible run with the bat. The opener passed 50 in each of her three innings in the ODI series, averaging 231 for the campaign. A 25 in the first T20I earlier this week is her lone score below 50 in an international match this tour.

Beaumont and Knight came together with England in trouble at 30/2 following the loss of Danni Wyatt (9) and Nat Sciver (0) to Rosemary Mair. The duo shut the door on New Zealand from there and by the time Beaumont fell to Leigh Kasperek in the 16th over, England only needed 11 runs to win. Knight fell in the 18th over to Hayley Jensen with England one run short of the target, leaving Amy Jones (7*) to finish off the job with Sophia Dunkley (0*).

Sent in to bat, New Zealand posted a total of 123/9 from their 20 overs.

The White Ferns were on the back foot early, losing the big wicket of captain Sophie Devine in the fourth over. Devine was trapped in front by Sophie Ecclestone (1/14) for eight, and was soon joined back in the dug-out by opening partner Jensen.

Jensen, out for 12 in the fifth over, was the first of four batters out to player-of-the-match Freya Davies (4/23), who claimed career best figures.

Having had Jensen caught in the deep, Davies bowled Amy Satterthwaite (49) and Kate Ebrahim (2), then took Maddy Green’s outside edge for a duck.

However, it was leg-spinner Sarah Glenn (2/27) who put the brakes on New Zealand.

After the early loss of both openers, Satterthwaite and Amelia Kerr rebuilt New Zealand’s innings. The pair put on 56 runs for the third wicket and had the hosts eying a big total at 84/2 in the 12th over.

Glenn stopped them in their tracks by having Kerr stumped for 25 and then repeated the trick to dismiss Katey Martin (0) in the same over.

New Zealand’s innings never recovered from there, with Satterthwaite’s fall in the 15th over putting to bed any hopes of a big finish. Green and Ebrahim came and went, before Nat Sciver (2/25) got in the action for England, dismissing Leigh Kasperek (5) and Jess Kerr (2) in two balls.

An unbeaten 16 from Brooke Halliday helped pull New Zealand past 120.