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)
At a glance
At Seddon Park, Hamilton: England 252 in 49 overs (Tammy Beaumont 81 off 96; Fran Jonas 2-47 off 10) beat New Zealand 196 all out in 45 overs (Brooke Halliday 57 off 90; Nat Sciver-Brunt 3-21 off 7) by 56 runs.
in her second over back. After Jess Kerr also removed Nat Sciver-Brunt cheaply, the captain reintroduced the left-arm spin of
Fran Jonas, who lured precocious teenage talent Alice Capsey down the wicket in her second over on return, allowing Gaze the stumping.
But the stand-in skipper wasn’t content to let England settle, removing Jonas from the bowling crease in favour of seam/swing merchant Hannah Rowe, who dismissed innings top-scorer Tammy Beaumont with a bouncer after the opener had reached 81 from 96 deliveries.
Then another switch, and another success: Jonas, brought back again, got rid of Danni Wyatt and with 163-6 in the 36th over, the home side were buoyant.
In between all that maneuvering, Kerr made a couple of wise uses of DRS, and conceded just three boundaries from her 10 overs of legspin.
However, her telling mistake came with the bat, when she advanced down the wicket to the bowling of Sciver-Brunt, only to clip the ball into the hands of Capsey at backward square leg.*