Former champions England produced a textbook all-round performance to crush New Zealand by eight wickets in their final Women’s World Cup league match in Visakhapatnam on Sunday.
The win catapulted England into second place in the table with 11 points, just below defending champions Australia. They face South Africa in the semi-finals.
With qualification for the last four already secured, England used the opportunity to fine-tune their arsenal, particularly their spinners, who were on the money from the outset.
The spin quartet of Linsey Smith, Charlie Dean, Alice Capsey and Sophie Ecclestone spun a spin around the White Ferns and shared seven wickets to trigger a collapse.
New Zealand, cruising at 89-1, lost Amelia Kerr and Georgia Plimmer in successive deliveries and from there it was a procession. The last five wickets fell for just 13 runs as the Kiwis were bundled out for 168 in under 39 overs, their lowest total of the tournament.
“We wanted to put in a good performance. Really happy with that effort and we take a lot of confidence going into the semi-finals,” England captain Nat Sciver-Brunt said.
The only cloud in England’s otherwise sunny afternoon was Ecclestone’s shoulder injury. The world’s top-ranked bowler took the commendable wicket of Brooke Halliday before leaving the field after just four deliveries. England will be sweating on their fitness as the business end of the competition approaches.
Her exit gave part-timer Sophia Dunkley a rare trill and with England already boasting a number of finger spinners, her wrist spin added another string to their bow.
England were rarely tested during the run. Tammy Beaumont and Amy Jones put on 75 for the first wicket and Jones then joined skipper Heather Knight in an 83-run stand as England galloped home with 124 balls to spare.
Jones finished unbeaten on 86, her 16th half-century in WODIs, reaching the milestone with a towering six off Suzie Bates and sealing the victory with a silken cover drive.
It was an emotional afternoon for New Zealand great Sophie Devine, who bowed out of the WODIs after a stellar career.
Although she failed to make a mark with the bat, she leaves as the country’s third-highest run-getter (4,279) and second-highest wicket-taker (111). Both teams formed a guard of honor for the departing legend.
The White Ferns finish a disappointing sixth in the table with just one win to their name and two of their Colombo matches washed out by rain.
“Really wanted to get on top but today’s performance was disappointing. I’m humbled to have played for my country for 19 long years. We came with high hopes but we weren’t good enough,” Devine said.
