England’s international summer finished with a record 13th win after they beat New Zealand by 20 runs at Lord’s on Wednesday, but not before another spin‑induced top-order wobble which should be cause for concern before the T20 World Cup in October on spinning pitches in Bangladesh.
With their head coach, Jon Lewis, having already said he will send an unofficial “A” side to Ireland in September, this was England’s last scheduled international before that tournament but it was not quite the ruthless performance the captain, Heather Knight, had called for in her pre-game press conference.
England were reduced to 83 for six – all six falling to spin – and relied on a battling innings of 46 from Knight and another weak showing by New Zealand with the bat to bail them out of trouble.
A better side might well have overhauled England’s 155, but this was a thoroughly demoralised New Zealand, unfortunately habituated to losing, and they never looked like doing so.
In the third over of the chase Suzie Bates had been adjudged not out by the third umpire Anna Harris, who concluded that Lauren Bell’s foot had not made contact with the ball before hitting the stumps after England appealed for a run-out at the non‑striker’s end. But three balls later Bell had Georgia Plimmer caught behind trying to scoop, while Bates lasted just three more overs before swiping Freya Kemp to mid-on.
There was no dramatic collapse from the tourists this time around – they were only three wickets down going into the death overs, with Melie Kerr and Brooke Halliday putting on a 40-run partnership for the fourth – but a slow start meant they struggled to match England’s scoring rate. Finally, with 51 needed from 27, Halliday reached for one outside off stump that should have been a wide, edged behind, and walked, knowing she and her team were beaten.
If anyone thought England’s problems against spin had gone away, the first 45 minutes of play at Lord’s begged to differ. The left-armer Fran Jonas finished with career-best figures of four for 22, including the remarkable achievement of taking a wicket with the first ball of three of her four overs. Danni Wyatt pulled her to deep midwicket and Maia Bouchier sent up a soft catch to mid-on out of nowhere, but the third and fourth were ones to treasure – a caught-and-bowled effort diving to her right to remove Nat Sciver-Brunt, before a deceptive slider broke through the defences of the left-hander Kemp.
At the other end, the off-spinner Eden Carson joined the party with wickets in consecutive overs: Alice Capsey hared down the track and was stumped, while Amy Jones failed to clear the very short long-on boundary and was caught on the rope.
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Carson would have been celebrating a third time but for a slip-up by Izzy Gaze behind the stumps, who fumbled her throw in from backward point, thus prolonging the life of Charlie Dean by a couple of overs and helping England to add 46 runs from the last five in a successful rescue operation.