ICC Women’s World Cup 2022: England kept their hopes of reaching the semi-finals alive by registering a mere 1 wicket win over New Zealand in the 19th match of the ICC Women’s World Cup 2022. At the same time, New Zealand’s team, which lost 4 out of 6 matches, is on the verge of ending this tournament clean. Batting first, New Zealand had set a target of 204 runs in front of defending champions England. At one time it seemed that England would win this match, but after losing 5 wickets within 20 runs, they trapped the match.
In view of the weather, Auckland won the toss and decided to bowl first. Suzy Bates (22) and captain Sophie Devine added 61 runs for the first wicket to open New Zealand’s innings. After Suzy’s dismissal, Devine also retired hurt in the 15th over after getting injured. Even after a good start, the team started to falter, with Maddie Green holding one end and scoring a half-century of 52 runs off 75 balls. Devine came back on the field in the 38th over but she could not show much amazingness. She returned to the pavilion after scoring 41 runs in 48 balls. The entire team of New Zealand was bundled out for 203 runs in 48.5 overs. Ecclestone and Kate Cross took 3 wickets each for England.
England beat New Zealand by one wicket in an absolute thriller in Auckland. What a game!#CWC22 pic.twitter.com/QDMzEALcAb
— ICC (@ICC) March 20, 2022
Chasing the target, England started off smoothly. In the first powerplay, both openers Danielle Wyatt (12) and Tammy Beaumont (25) returned to the pavilion. After this, captain Heath Knight (42) took over the team along with Natalie Sciver. England got two consecutive setbacks around 100 runs, along with Heath, Amy Allen Jones also returned to the pavilion after scoring 1 run.
After this, Sophia Dunkley, who came to bat, shared a 70-run partnership for the 5th wicket with Natalie Sciver. There was a time when England’s score was 176 for the loss of 4 wickets. Then it seemed that England would easily win this match, but then the New Zealand bowlers came back strongly and took 5 wickets for the English team within just 20 runs. England’s score was 196/9 from 176/4. At that time everyone was out of breath. Then Anya Shrubsole, who came to bat at number 11, scored 7 runs in 11 balls to win the game team.