Series: England in New Zealand Mar 2021
Venue: University Oval, Dunedin
Format: ODI
Toss: England
Result: New Zealand by seven wickets

Was it all Just About the Coin Toss?

Sophie Devine won the toss in the first two ODIs of the series, batted first and lost. Heather Knight did the same thing here and it gave the Kiwis a victory by seven wickets. Perhaps it is better to lose the toss.

Tammy Beaumont and Danni Wyatt opened up for England and as predictable as the coin toss seems to be linked to the result, so too continuum of the brilliant batting form of the former and the early dismissal of the latter.

The bowling conditions could not have been more suited to New Zealand’s Jess Kerr. The cloud cover, the breeze, the temperature. She certainly makes that ball hoop around most times, but today she looked particularly menacing and dismissed Wyatt (1) in her first over, courtesy of a smart catch to wicket keeper Katey Martin.

That brought Heather Knight to the crease and with Beaumont pushed the score along briskly in a partnership worth 109 runs. But when the skipper fell for 60 the scoring dried up and Beaumont was forced into playing anchor, rather than the free flowing stroke maker she had been in the previous two games. She ended with 88 not out, running out of partners in the 48th over with England dismissed for 220.

Embed from Getty Images

With Katherine Brunt rested along with Tash Farrant (who would have enjoyed these bowling conditions, it was Nat Sciver and Freya Davies with the new ball for England. The White Ferns openers Hayley Jensen and Natalie Dodd continued their struggle and both were dismissed early. Probably a good thing. It brought Amy Sattethwaite to the crease. Sophie Devine continued her sad run with the bat and in came Amelia Kerr.

The veteran and the youngster worked the ball into the gaps and slowly but surely built a partnership. An unbroken partnership of 172 runs. The two players steered the White Ferns to victory by seven wickets. Satterthwaite, Player of the Match, finished 119 not out while Kerr scored 72 not out.

As with the two previous encounters, the side losing the toss batted second and won the match. Just another in a long line of cricket’s little quirks. Despite the loss England won the series 2-1 and Tammy Beaumont with 231 runs at an average of 231.00 was rightly named Player of the Series.

Embed from Getty Images

Scores:

England 220  (Beaumont 88*, Knight 60, A. Kerr 4-42, Sophie Devine 2-26) 47.5 overs
New Zealand 223/3 (Satterthwaite 119*, A. Kerr 72*, Davies 1-33) 46.4 overs

Player of the Match: Amy Satterthwaite
Player of the Series: Tammy Beaumont