New Zealand v England: Tourists ease to fourth win of T20I series

Sophie Ecclestone picked up three wickets for the tourists against a White Ferns side missing captain and key player Sophie Devine to a minor quad injury

Nick Friend | 29/03/2024 at 02:45

Wellington: New Zealand 136-6, England 138-5 - England win by five wickets

England finished the T20I series against New Zealand as 4-1 winners, easing to a comfortable victory in Wellington on Friday.

Sophie Ecclestone picked up three wickets for the tourists against a White Ferns side missing captain and key player Sophie Devine to a minor quad injury.

In Devine's absence, New Zealand were light on firepower with the bat, particularly when they found themselves 29 for 3 inside the powerplay. But 19-year-old wicketkeeper Izzy Gaze made her maiden half century to give her side a fighting chance with a final total of 136 for 6.

That proved insufficient in the end, however, with Nat Sciver-Brunt (31) and Heather Knight (35) coming together at 64 for 3 in the 10th over, guiding England close to their target.

Danni Wyatt made 21 and Alice Capsey hit 25 in awkward conditions at the Basin Reserve, with the breeze wreaking havoc and a bouncy surface keeping the bowlers on both teams interested. There was a rare low score in the series for Maia Bouchier, who edged behind for six, and Sciver-Brunt was beaten by an Amelia Kerr googly once the back of the chase had been broken.

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^{England won the T20I series 4-1 (Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images)}

Earlier, England had done the crux of the damage with the new ball; Sciver-Brunt had Bernardine Bezuidenhout caught behind in the first over, before Kerr and Suzie Bates both skied to mid-on.

Georgia Plimmer, in for Devine, lobbed to Dani Gibson, who later dropped a straightforward chance to dismiss Brooke Halliday, while Maddy Green was superbly caught off her own bowling by Ecclestone, who also shelled a sitter, also off her own bowling.

Halliday (33) and Gaze (51*) gave New Zealand a fighting chance; they shared a 56-run stand, with Gaze the first New Zealand batter other than Devine, Kerr or Bates to make a T20I fifty in six years.

But England were able to ease home, having dominated the series on the whole, with a T20 World Cup coming up later this year in Bangladesh.

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