The New Zealand White Ferns are out of the race for the ICC Women’s World Cup, after they lost to England and West Indies beat Australia last night in Mumbai, India.
The New Zealand side knew they were out of contention before the start of the match, with the West Indies side narrowly beating Australia to claim the second spot in the final on Sunday.
It left both them and England playing for pride and it was the latter who started well, making a total of 266 in the first innings. In reply Amy Satterthwaite made an excellent 103, but a late flurry of wickets saw the Kiwi side fall 16 runs short at 251 for nine.
The key partnership was between Satterthwaite and Bates (whose the leading tournament run-scorer) with the pair putting on a 136 for the second wicket. Bates was the first to go when she was bowled on 79 by Jenny Gunn.
From there Satterthwaite continued to plug away and was rewarded with a brilliant ton – her second in One Day Internationals. However, when her innings came to an end in the 44th over, the wheels came off for the White Ferns.
Sophie Devine (17) and Sara McGlashan (15) contributed with a couple of handy cameos, but the English bowlers got on a roll and at the end of 50 overs the White Ferns had been reduced to nine down and 15 runs away from their target.
The wickets were shared for England, but Holly Colvin proved the biggest threat with figures of three for 48 from ten overs.
Earlier, talented number three Sarah Taylor had got out of her slump in form with an energetic 88 to top score for her side. There were plenty of other starts for England, with captain Charlotte Edwards (54) , Heather Knight (28) and Danielle Wyatt (26) just some of those to make an impact.
Some late hitting from Jenny Gunn (23 not out from 11 balls) capped off a complete performance with the bat for England and saw them past the 260 mark.
The White Fern bowlers had struggled to contain England, but a helpful spell of six overs, two for 25 from Lucy Doolan was the highlight.
Overall the White Ferns will be disappointed with their performance, but not all is lost, as they will play England in the playoff for third and fourth on Friday – not the game either team wanted to be in, but a great chance to end on a positive note.
