Cricket: White Ferns slump to one-day series defeat with loss to ...
New Zealand have collapsed to a 56-run one-day defeat to England at Hamilton, surrendering another whiteball series to the tourists, after their 4-1 loss in the Twenty20 format.
In another missed opportunity, the White Ferns had their rivals on the ropes at 166/7 in the 37th over, but could not deliver a knockout blow, as the English tail batted around wicketkeeper Amy Jones to set a daunting 252 target, before they were dismissed with an over to spare.
Opener Tammy Beaumont set the platform with 81 runs off 96 balls at the top of the order, combining with captain Heather Knight to put on 70 runs for the second wicket, before her side lost four wickets for 23 runs. Jess Kerr took the wickets of Knight and allrounder Nat Sciver-Brunt in successive overs.
Jones, who had carried England to victory in the series opener, again proved difficult to dislodge, striking 48 off 40 and a late 55-run partnership with Kate Cross to give the tourists a level of comfort.
The NZ women were already without captain Sophie Devine and bowler Rosemary Mair through injury, and lost opening batter Bernadine Bezuidenhout in the field, presenting another difficult proposition with the bat.
Georgia Plimmer was promoted up the order in Bezuidenhout's absence, but was the first to fall in the six over. Veteran Suzie Bates and acting skipper Melie Kerr needed to bat long, if their team were any chance, but Bates top-edged to the infield in the 10th over and Kerr scooped a catch to leave her side 57/3.
Brooke Halliday and wicketkeeper Izzy Gaze sparked some middle-order hope with a 100-run partnership off 122 balls, dragging New Zealand to 166/4.
Gaze, who scored her maiden T20 fifty last week, seemed assured of repeating that feat in the longer version, but was cruelly run out by her partner three runs short.
Ten runs later, Halliday followed, stumped and losing her bat in the process, after bringing up her fourth ODI half-century - three against England.
The Ferns lost their last five wickets for 30 runs, with Bezuidenhout deciding discretion was the better part of valour and not risking further injury.
Three days earlier, the Ferns had England reeling at 79/6, but allowed Jones and Charlie Dean to guide them home by four wickets with an unbeaten 130-run partnership.
"Another tough loss, but there was a lot of great stuff," reflected Melie Kerr. "Jess was outstanding with her breakthrough and there was a bit of a collapse there.
"They had a partnership at the end that got them to a pretty good score on a tough wicker. They bowled really well at the start... the way Brooke and Izzy played was outstanding.
"Even though the scorecard doesn't look so good, they gave us a shot at potentially winning that game."
New Zealand have one last chance to topple their opponents over 50 overs at Hamilton on Sunday.
England 252 (Beaumont 81, Jones 48, Knight 37; Bates 2/24, Jonas 2/47, J Kerr 2/50, Tauhuhu 2/50) NZ 196 (Halliday 57, Gaze 47, Bates 28; Sciver-Brunt 3/21)
England win by 56 runs, lead series 2-0
