Kerr’s clever captaincy goes unrewarded
Working their way into a potential winning position hasn’t been problematic for the White Ferns.
Converting it into victory against England remains a considerable hurdle, however.
For the second ODI in succession between the two teams, New Zealand threatened to upset their higher-ranked rivals, but ended up squandering their best catch of the season – courtesy of a diving Hannah Rowe at mid-on – and a wonderful captaincy display from Melie Kerr.
In Hamilton yesterday, the hosts had worked their way through England’s best batters as they sought to level the threematch series and head to a Sunday decider.
But England added 86 runs for their last three wickets to make 252 in 49 overs. Literally hamstrung by an injury to opener Bernadine Bezuidenhout suffered while fielding which resulted in her not batting, the White Ferns got a century partnership for the fifth wicket between Brooke Halliday (57 from 90 balls) and Izzy Gaze (47 from 48), but a run-out blunder sparked a collapse which saw New Zealand end on 196-9 in the 45th over.
Yesterday’s match came after they had England wobbling at 79-6 in the 17th over on Monday in Wellington, only for a counter-attacking 92 not out off 83 balls from wicketkeeper-batter Amy Jones to safely guide the tourists home against a side missing sidelined skipper Sophie Devine.
After the visitors chose to bat at Seddon Park, Kerr, 23, manipulated her side’s limited bowling resources – Rosemary Mair was also out injured – with aplomb. With the more-fancied side sitting pretty at 94-1 after 20 overs, Kerr brought back her older sister Jess for a second spell of her medium-pace inswingers.
Her sibling responded by grabbing the wicket of Heather Knight (37 from 43 balls)