England in New Zealand: Tourists thrashed by seven wickets in final ODI

Amy Satterthwaite’s superb unbeaten century led New Zealand to an easy seven-wicket win over England in the final one-day international in Dunedin.

England opener Tammy Beaumont continued her fine form with 88 not out and captain Heather Knight scored 60.

But the rest of the batters struggled as the tourists fell from 140-2 to be bowled out for 220 off 47.5 overs.

Satterthwaite hit 119 and Amelia Kerr made 72 not out to guide the hosts to their target with 20 balls to spare.

Reigning 50-over World Cup champions England take the series 2-1, but defeat ends a run of 10 consecutive victories across all formats.

“I’m definitely frustrated,” said Knight. “But I like that we were tested.

“Obviously we want to keep winning, but we’ll probably get more from this game than we will from the first two, which is a real positive with the World Cup next year.”

This is the White Ferns’ first ODI win in 12 matches and a first victory in the format as captain for Sophie Devine, who took over the role permanently in July last year after previous skipper Satterthwaite returned from maternity leave.

“It’s been a long time coming,” said Devine.

“Amy Satterthwaite led from the front and Amelia Kerr is a gun but our bowlers also got a chance to shine as England were in a good position to have a crack in the last 20 overs and we pegged them back.”

Satterthwaite became the 10th woman to pass 4,000 ODI runs and the third New Zealander, after Debbie Hockley and Suzie Bates, who missed this series with a shoulder injury.

England stumble in pursuit of clean sweep

After the early loss of opener Danni Wyatt for one, England started well, with Beaumont and Knight putting on a stand of 109, before the skipper was trapped lbw by leg-spinner Amelia Kerr.

“I’m frustrated with the moment I got out as it broke the game open and the Kiwis were very good at taking wickets at regular intervals,” said Knight.

Unlike in the previous two matches, England’s top order failed to establish more than one substantial partnership, with a middle order that has lacked time at the crease recently struggling as no other batter scored more than 15.

Nat Sciver fell to Brooke Halliday for 12 and wicketkeeper Amy Jones was caught and bowled by seamer Jess Kerr for 15 to leave England 161-4.

The tourists lost their last six wickets for just 59 runs, with Devine removing Fran Wilson and the returning Lauren Winfield-Hill before Amelia Kerr cleaned up the tail to finish with 4-42 off 8.5 overs.

It meant no one was able to provide adequate support for the in-form Beaumont, who hit her third straight half-century to be named player of the series, finishing unbeaten on 88 off 113 balls, including seven fours.

New Zealand end losing streak in style

New Zealand were bowled out for scores lower than their target of 221 in each of the first two matches and their openers again fell cheaply, with Natalie Dodd dismissed by the recalled Freya Davies and Hayley Jensen bowled by Sciver.

That left the hosts 15-2 before Satterthwaite and Devine steadied the innings until the latter was trapped lbw by Kate Cross for 15.

Despite the absence of rested fast bowler Katherine Brunt, England’s bowlers initially troubled Amelia Kerr but she settled in before playing some deft strokes.

She combined with the experienced Satterthwaite for 172 – New Zealand’s highest fourth-wicket partnership in ODIs.

They kept well on top of the required rate throughout, with left-hander Satterthwaite playing the more attacking knock as she smacked 10 fours and two sixes, bringing up her seventh ODI century off 120 balls and first in four years.

All-rounder Amelia Kerr, who was named player of the match, hit seven fours, including the final boundary off Sciver to lead the hosts to 223-3 off 46.4 overs.

“The Kiwis were great in how they chased it down, we had to search for wickets a bit and that meant we didn’t manage to get over the line,” said Knight.

“Our bowling performance was OK, there is room for improvement, but the main reason we lost was that we were 30 runs short.”

Unlike the first two ODIs, this match was played behind closed doors after a new lockdown was introduced in the country.

The two sides face each other again in a three-match Twenty20 series that starts in Wednesday in Wellington, having been moved from Auckland because of lockdown measures.

The first two T20s will also be played without spectators, with a decision yet to be made about fans’ attendance in the third T20 on 7 March.

Agencies