Heather Knight 'frustrated' as New Zealand deny England ODI series sweep

The England Women captain, Heather Knight, urged her side to draw lessons from defeat-after New Zealand won the third and final one-day international by seven wickets in Dunedin.

England had already wrapped up the series win but missed out on a clean sweep as they were bowled out for 220 despite Tammy Beaumont’s unbeaten 88. All-rounder Amelia Kerr took four wickets for 42, including the lbw dismissal of Knight for 60.

In response New Zealand slipped to 15 for two after the early losses of Natalie Dodd and Hayley Jensen. Kate Cross dismissed White Ferns captain Sophie Devine for 15, before Kerr joined Amy Satterthwaite to form a matchwinning partnership.

The pair combined for 172 without loss, New Zealand’s highest fourthwicket partnership in women’s ODI history. Satterthwaite hit an unbeaten 119 and Kerr 72 off 88 balls as the hosts avoided a series whitewash in convincing fashion.

“I’m definitely frustrated,” Knight told New Zealand Cricket. “I think we were 30 runs short with the bat. The pitch was a little bit slower than it was and I think the Kiwis bowled brilliantly, particularly that spell from [Hannah] Rowe and Devine first change.

“Me and Tammy really battled to get through that. I was frustrated with the

time I got out, I felt like we were just getting going,” Knight added. “As a positive it was a real learning for us as a side.

As a batting unit when the pitch is a little bit slow and we set that platform we’ve really got to find a way to push on to 250-260 consistently.”

Defeat ended a run of 10 straight wins across all formats for England, but Knight said they would learn more in defeat as they look to 2022 and a defence of their World Cup title in New Zealand.

“I love that we were tested today,” Knight added. “Obviously disappointed that we lost, we want to keep winning, but we’ll probably get more from this game than we did the first two, which is a real positive with what we’ve got to come next year.”