England v New Zealand: Women’s World Cup – as it happened | Sport

Hare’s breadth. Skin of teeth. Eye of… Shrubsole?

England squeak through at the last, the experienced campaigner Anya Shrubsole seeing them over the line with the bat (this time) after it looked like New Zealand were going to pull off a very damp heist in Auckland.

Both sides were far from perfect, after a solid start that saw them reach 96-1 New Zealand were disappointed to end up bowled out with an over to spare, having crawled to 203. In response England were in command at 176-4 and Nat Sciver set at the crease, they then lost five wickets for 23 runs. Cue frayed nerves and a good old peer down the barrel of a World Cup exit.

They creaked over the line with 1 wicket to spare and will face bottom of the table Pakistan at the Hagley Oval in Christchurch on Thursday for another MUST WIN game. They don’t make it easy for themselves, or us for that matter.

That’s it from me, thanks for your company and goodnight/morning/whatever it is. Bye!

England captain Heather Knight was visibly relieved, blowing out her cheeks she said it was, “Amazing to get this win… but credit to the Kiwis, they fought so hard. Today was all about the win and luckily we did that.

“It was nice to get over the line, the bowlers were outstanding, but we have to be better and one of the top order has to go on and do the job…

“There is a bit of relief, we will reflect on what we can do better and we can make it easier but the main thing was getting the win.

“We are building quite nicely and players are performing well, Kate Cross was outstanding, Nat Sciver and the spinners were good. It still has not clicked but hopefully that is to come, and we have two massive must-win games to come.”

Losing (and injured) New Zealand captain Sophie Devine was rueful, “The girls are gutted but that’s cricket. We lost 3 games by 2-3 wickets or a couple of runs here and there… we have one more game left and we will get up for for it as it will be our last opportunity to make New Zealand proud.”

They can be proud of the way they battled back into this match, especially given the injury blows to Devine and Lea Tahuhu – who limped off after just a 4.4 overs but not before she bowled Tammy Beaumont to notch up her 93rd ODI wicket and become New Zealand’s leading ODI wicket taker.

Nat Sciver is POTM and is in “shock!”

“It’s crazy we got over the line when we probably should not have. I am in shock, there have been so many close games in this tournament.

I knew I had to do most of the scoring and stay out there for a long time. It was tough bowling in the windy conditions, and a difficult wicket to find consistency.”

One way to put it. Still a win’s a win. (It is!)

What happened there then? England were cruising and then went to pieces. Hard luck New Zealand, they did extremely well to push them to the wire. Tears and relief for England, they’ve been through the ringer in the last half an hour. They

march
stumble on in this World Cup.

If a wicket falls now it’s a SUPER OVER. England v New Zealand. In a World Cup!

Halliday is on to bowl. Shrubsole drives her for four!! SCORES ARE LEVEL

47th over: England 199-9 (Dean 0, Shrubsole 2) Shrubsole digs out two full balls and then squeezes away a single. 21 year old Charlie Dean on strike. Mackay slides one down the leg side for a freebie wide. 5 needed off 18 balls for England. New Zealand need ONE wicket.

46th over: England 197-9 (Dean 0, Shrubsole 1) Anya Shrubsole and Charlie Dean are England’s last hope. Both sides have two reviews left. Shrubsole takes a single to keep strike.

BRUNT IS RUN OUT! England have collapsed from 175-4 to 195-9! Brunt pulls one into the leg side and they run one but some mad running leaves her diving full length trying to get back into her ground… but she’s well short! New Zealand jsut need one more! England need 8 runs. Breathe!

45th over: England 194-8 (Brunt 4, Dean 0) Two wickets for the over for Mackay, she’s bowled her side back into contention. Who is going to hold their nerve?! Great to watch. Tension in spades.

Skidding on and three reds mean Cross has to go! Another close finish here! 2 wickets needed for New Zealand – 10 runs for England.

Drag on! New Zealand have another! They need three more, England need 12 runs.

44th over: England 191-6 (Brunt 4, Ecclestone 0) A wicket maiden for Jess Kerr and she very nearly has another! A length ball zips off the seam and beats everything to skuttle away for four! Cripes.

The rain falls and the balls skids on, Sciver missing a cut shot and the zinger bails light up the gloom. A fantastic innings but New Zealand still have a sniff.

43rd over: England 187-5 (Sciver 61, Brunt 4) Sciver is cool and collected, working the ball around and happy to take the singles. Brunt is slightly more skittish, a sweep is top edged over the keeper, lands safe and takes England one run closer. 17 needed off 42 balls.

42nd over: England 182-5 (Sciver 59, Brunt 1) Sciver works Rowe away for three with a clip through mid-wicket and Brunt gets off the mark with a jab to point.

A twist?! Dunkley plays down the wrong line and is castled. She played well for her 33. Still a bit to do for England. 28 needed off 54 balls. New Zealand need to take five very quick wickets.

41st over: England 176-5 (Sciver 55, Brunt 0)

40th over: England 173-4 (Sciver 53, Dunkley 32) Fifty for Nat Sciver! Her slowest ODI fifty, off 92 balls, but one of her most important. She latches onto a short ball from Rowe and swivel-pulls it away to the fence. She’s keeping England in this World Cup.

39th over: England 166-4 (Sciver 47, Dunkley 31) Three runs off Frances Mackay with little risk. New Zealand need to break this partnership. England are well ahead of the Duckworth Lewis of they do go off for rain, right now it looks like the ground staff aren’t too fussed and the players are stopping out there.

38th over: England 163-4 (Sciver 45, Dunkley 30) A bit dark and gloomy in Auckland. Spatters of rain landing on the camera lens. Hanna Rowe is back on to bowl, she has four overs in the can. A bouncer is deemed too short and given as a wide. The lissom bowler then serves up another short ball and Dunkley leans back and crunches it away through point for four. Dunkley has been impressive here, busy, rotating strike and putting the bad ball away.

37th over: England 157-4 (Sciver 44, Dunkley 26) Fifty partnership between Sciver and Dunkley. They’ve done really well here to calm the nerves and eke England closer. 47 needed from 78 balls for England.

36th over: England 153-4 (Sciver 43, Dunkley 23) Amelia Kerr into her final over. She drops short with her first ball and Sciver cross-bats for four. A couple of singles off the rest of the over means Kerr finishes with 0-41 from her 10.

35th over: England 147-4 (Sciver 38, Dunkley 22) On we go. 15 overs left.

34th over: England 143-4 (Sciver 36, Dunkley 21) Kerrs on at both ends. Amelia keeps it tight with just a couple coming off her over. Beat that, sis.

61 needed off 96 balls for England. Six scalps for New Zealand.

33rd over: England 141-4 (Sciver 36, Dunkley 19) Sciver steps away to give herself room and slots Jess Kerr over wide mid-off to pick up four. She’s doing her best to give Greenway her wish… but almost gives it away off the final ball – a mistimed flick resulting in a leading edge that loops into the air for what seems like an age but there isn’t a fielder close enough to swoop in for the catch.

32nd over: England 137-4 (Sciver 32, Dunkley 19) The excellent Lydia Greenway on commentary wants England to chase this down in a clinical way rather than spluttering over the line… or succumbing to the pressure of the tournament situation. This feels like the crucial partnership for both sides. Jess Kerr is coming into the attack from the other end.

31st over: England 134-4 (Sciver 30, Dunkley 18) Fantastic over for England as Sciver launches Halliday over mid-on for four. A single brings Dunkley on strike and she climbs into the final ball before drinks – smearing it straight for a 72 metre SIX!

30th over: England 123-4 (Sciver 25, Dunkley 12) Kerr offers Dunkley too much width and she accepts with a thudding cut shot for four runs. A wide down the leg side is followed by an inside edge that squirts away fine and the batters come back for a couple. 20 overs to go. This feels edgy. A fox has started making horrible noises right outside my window. A sign? An omen? Of what? Dunno.

29th over: England 116-4 (Sciver 25, Dunkley 6) Halliday hops in for another and there’s just a couple off it.

England need 88 runs from 126 balls. New Zealand need six wickets.

28th over: England 114-4 (Sciver 24, Dunkley 5) A risky paddle sees Dunkley get off the mark, she then goes hard at a full ball and gets it through the field to pick up four. England pick up eight runs from the over, can these two batters get them close?

27th over: England 106-4 (Sciver 22, Dunkley 0) Brooke Halliday it was who got the breakthrough, whirling away in all her wrong-footed delightfulness. She sends down a wicket-maiden. An inspired bowling change. Sophia Dunkley is the new batter.

Poor shot from Jones. She limply pulls a full toss straight to short mid-wicket. Game on!

26th over: England 106-3 (Sciver 22, Jones 1) Kerr with a maiden.

25th over: England 106-3 (Sciver 22, Jones 1) Here’s Nat Sciver! A full toss by Mackay is bunted away for four, Sciver’s first real shot in anger. The camera zooms in on her and she looks steely eyed and determined. England need her here. Ton up for the holders after half the overs.

24th over: England 99-3 (Sciver 16, Jones 0) Amelia Kerr keeps the pressure on. Just a single to Nat Sciver, who has been pretty subdued so far in this innings. Amy Jones is the new bat and pats a few back, all the better to get her eye in.

And they do! Heather Knight gets out the reverse sweep once more but misses. Huge appeal and the finger is raised! Knight reviews… is this sliding down? Nope! Ball tracking shows the ball clipping the leg bail – Knight has to go. New Zealand prise the door ajar.

23rd over: England 98-3 (Sciver 15, Jones 0)

22nd over: England 93-2 (Knight 41, Sciver 14) A better over from Kerr, three from the over. New Zealand need to make something happen here.