England beat defending champions New Zealand from Women’s T20 World Cup Cricket News:
England ended New Zealand’s reign as Women’s T20 World Cup champions with a nine-wicket win at The Oval on Saturday.The defending champions bowed out after losing three of their five group-stage matches.Earlier in the day, New Zealand received an unexpected boost when Ireland beat the West Indies by six wickets in Bristol, keeping the Kiwis’ semifinals hopes alive.Ireland’s win also ended a 21-match losing streak across five Women’s T20 World Cups spanning 12 years.“Some of us are now half-Irish,” New Zealand veteran Sophie Devine joked. “(Our) fate is in our hands.”However, New Zealand still need to beat an unbeaten England team to reach the semifinals ahead of the West Indies.
Wyatt-Hodge powered England to an easy chase
After New Zealand posted 163/6, England quickly chased down the target, reaching 164/1 with 16 balls to spare.Opener Danni Wyatt-Hodge led the charge with an unbeaten 89 off 53 balls, smashing 15 fours and one six in front of a crowd of 21,018 – the highest ever attendance for a Women’s T20 World Cup group-stage match.The remaining two semifinal spots will be decided on Sunday, with Australia, South Africa and India still in contention.
Wyatt-Hodge broke the tournament record
Wyatt-Hodge continued his remarkable tournament after scoring a century in England’s opening match. He now has two fifties and a hundred in the competition.With 282 runs, he is comfortably the highest run-scorer in the tournament. She also broke the Women’s T20 World Cup record for most runs in an edition, going past Beth Mooney’s 259 runs set in 2020, with potentially two more games left to play.The England opener saved two early chances. He was dropped behind the stumps before opening his account and was also given another lifeline at 13 when another chance failed.His fifty came off just 33 balls. She shared a match-winning 128-run partnership from 80 balls with Sophia Dunkley, who remained unbeaten on 49 from 38 balls with nine boundaries. Dunkley was England’s second highest run-scorer in the tournament with 120 runs.
New Zealand fell short despite a strong start
New Zealand chose to bat first and got off to a strong start with a 70-run opening partnership between Isabella Gaze and Melie Kerr.But the innings lost momentum when Gaze, Kerr and Izzy Sharp were dismissed within four deliveries. Brooke Halliday and Sophie Devine added 74 runs before both fell in the same over.Both Maddy Green and Suzie Bates tried to finish strong, but New Zealand’s total proved to be far below what was required against England’s powerful batting lineup.
End of an era for New Zealand
The defeat also marked the end of the international careers of Sophie Devine, Suzie Bates and fast bowler Lea Tahuhu.The trio signed after making nearly 900 international appearances combined for New Zealand.
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