England Women continued with their searing form as they beat New Zealand Women in the first ODI match by four wickets on Monday at Basin Reserve. England’s Amy Jones and Charlie Dean put on a match-winning partnership of (130) runs to pull England out of early setbacks as they lost their big players for small scores, slumping to 79/6. England have taken a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.
Earlier, inserted to bat, home side started off nicely, with the help of Suzie Bates and Bernadine Bezuidenhout churning out (50) and (35) respectively. Their 90-run stand set the platform for a perfect start, but they didn’t manage to capitalise on a fine start after their middle-order players kept losing their wickets at regular intervals, aside from Amelia Kerr top-scoring (middle-order) with (24) runs.
The positive start from white ferns pushed them to post (207) after they lost all of their eight wickets in the space of (68) runs, being bowled out in (48.2) overs. England’s Charlie Dean and Lauren Bell claimed three wickets each followed by Kate Cross, Nat Sciver-Brunt and Sophie Ecclestone having two, one and one wicket respectively.