An impressive all-round bowling display by England helped them register a comfortable seven-wicket win over New Zealand and finish on top of Group B with three successive wins at the Commonwealth Games.
Katherine Brunt, Issy Wong and Sarah Glenn bagged a brace each as New Zealand were restricted to 71 for 9 after opting to bat on Thursday. The batters had little difficulty in overhauling the small total as they took merely 11.4 overs.
With both England and New Zealand having already secured their places in the semifinals of CWG 2022, the final group stage encounter had little significance apart from deciding their opponents for the last four – India or Australia.
Brunt triggered New Zealand’s collapse with two strikes in her first two overs – cleaning up Sophie Devine and Amelia Kerr. From thereon, New Zealand could never take control of their innings as Maddy Green was bowled, Wong and Glenn picked two each, and errors in running cost them a couple of more wickets to be reduced to 57 for 9 in the 15th over.
A resolute last-wicket stand of 14 runs, the joint highest of the innings, between Hannah Rowe and Fran Jonas, helped New Zealand bat out their full quota of overs, even if it was to prove insignificant in the end.
England were in a slight spot of bother early on after losing opener Danni Wyatt in the first over, by Jonas. However, a counter-attacking start by the in-form Alice Capsey, which included five boundaries in 11 balls, put England firmly in control. Dunkley too picked up pace soon enough, cracking Kerr for two boundaries in the fifth over. However, the duo couldn’t continue their demolition job for too long.
In successive overs, Kerr had both the batters sent back to the dugout. With only 26 runs needed from thereon, Amy Jones and Natalie Sciver wrapped up the formalities, setting up their semifinal date with India, while New Zealand will face favourites Australia.
