The White Ferns were unable to overcome a pedestrian start to their innings as they fell to a 30-run loss in their opening one-day match against England.
Chasing 242 for victory in Bristol after dismissing the hosts with three balls left in their 50 overs, New Zealand were bowled out for 211 in the 47th over in the first of five ODIs between the two women’s sides on Friday morning (NZ time).
Amy Satterthwaite played a lone hand in getting New Zealand closer to victory than appeared likely for most of the innings, finishing unbeaten on 79.
Some powerful late hitting from No.10 Lea Tahuhu (25 off 14 balls) reduced the gap between the two sides, while Leigh Kasperek helped Satterthwaite add 34 for the last wicket.
Satterthwaite said NZ’s chase was hindered by a lack of partnerships.
“The goal of ours is to get bigger partnerships.
“They had a couple of big partnerships with the bat and we weren’t able to replicate that.”
But the White Ferns had already dug a massive hole for themselves when England’s Katherine Brunt went 26 balls without conceding a run after opening the bowling in New Zealand’s laboured pursuit.
Ferns opener Lauren Down struggled horribly, making 5 off 26 balls, while her more illustrious opening partner Suzie Bates was the first to fall after managing one from 13 balls as the top three all perished to catches behind the wicket to be 31-3 after 12.1 overs.
The vastly-experienced duo of Satterthwaite and Sophie Devine added 78 for the fourth wicket before Devine holed out in the 29th over after surviving a scare in the previous over. Wicketkeeper/batter Katey Martin fell soon after and when Brooke Halliday was dismissed the following ball, the game was as good as over with NZ 124-6 in the 32nd over.
Ferns opener Lauren Down struggled horribly, making 5 off 26 balls, while her more illustrious opening partner Suzie Bates was the first to fall after managing one from 13 balls as the top three all perished to catches behind the wicket to be 31-3 after 12.1 overs.
The vastly-experienced duo of Satterthwaite and Sophie Devine added 78 for the fourth wicket before Devine holed out in the 29th over after surviving a scare in the previous over. Wicketkeeper/batter Katey Martin fell soon after and when Brooke Halliday was dismissed the following ball, the game was as good as over with NZ 124-6 in the 32nd over.
The skipper made 89 from 107 balls, featuring eight fours, but after she perished the visitors did an excellent job of restricting England’s tail, capturing the last five wickets in only 18 balls.
Pace bowler Tahuhu, making her first start on tour after missing the three Twenty20 matches while recovering from a foot injury, also impressed with the ball, taking 2-32 off 10 overs as she slowed England’s early advance. Inswing bowler Jess Kerr led NZ’s wicket-taking with 3-42 off 9.3 overs.
NZ captain Devine said she was happy after England’s innings, having thought 250 was a ‘par score’ and the talk in the pavilion was of keeping wickets in hand. Unfortunately for the tourists, they couldn’t manage that and doubled their problems with the slow scoring rate.
Satterthwaite described the performance as an “improvement” and felt there was still a chance of victory when she combined with Tahuhu and Kasperek.
“We’ve improved upon from where we were in the summer and that’s what we’ve been focusing on,” Satterthwaite said.
“The bowlers are allowed to bowl well up top and I thought Katherine Brunt and Nat Sciver bowled really well. We’ve got to find ways to mitigate that.”
The second of five ODIs will be played in Worcester, starting on Sunday night (NZ time).
England 241 all out in 49.3 overs (H Knight 89, T Beaumont 44, K Brunt 43; J Kerr 3-42) beat New Zealand 211all out in 46.3 overs (A Satterthwaite 79no, S Devine 34) by 30 runs.
