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No she isn’t!
Brooke Halliday was absolutely miles away from that. If she was holding two bats she’d still have missed it. Amy Jones led the appeal, but even she didn’t seem convinced. But England need to break this partnership, so chanced their arm.
Is Halliday out here? England send it upstairs!
The batter looks completely nonplussed, but England are going to see if she nicked the ball on its way through. The answer will be that she didn’t.
38th over: New Zealand 161-4 (Halliday 47, Gaze 46) Four balls into Cross’s over both batters are on 46, one sweet strike from a half-century. They get together in the middle for a little chat, presumably reminding each other not to get excited, to stay calm. And they certainly do that: one more run follows.
37th over: New Zealand 158-4 (Halliday 46, Gaze 43) A couple of dots from Bell and Halliday attacks one, but the timing’s completely off and it loops over the head of extra cover and drops safe. The next is top-edged over the keeper for four. Then Gaze chips one to midwicket, but again it lands safe. Another seven runs in the bank, and they’re living a charmed life.
36th over: New Zealand 151-4 (Halliday 45, Gaze 38) New Zealand let the required run rate climb to the mid-sevens but have dragged it back a bit from there, and in the last few overs have been comfortably scoring at that kind of speed. 32 off the last four.
35th over: New Zealand 144-4 (Halliday 42, Gaze 34) Lauren Bell is back, and New Zealand attack her aggressively. Gaze finally gets the last ball away, hitting across the line and sending it past a diving mid-on for four.
34th over: New Zealand 134-4 (Halliday 40, Gaze 27) Now Halliday sweeps, fine this time, and this goes for four as well. She top-edges the last ball of Dean’s over, but it’s safe.
33rd over: New Zealand 127-4 (Halliday 33, Gaze 27) Gaze advances and sweeps Capsey through midwicket for four. That is sweetly timed, and fair rockets to the rope.
32nd over: New Zealand 119-4 (Halliday 31, Gaze 21) And six off Charlie Dean’s seventh. This partnership has been worth 53, off 77 balls so far, and is keeping New Zealand in this game. The run rate is rising, but it isn’t unachievable, particularly with a couple of set batters.
31st over: New Zealand 113-4 (Halliday 29, Gaze 17) Four singles. Capsey’s going at 6.33 an over, by a margin the most expensive of England’s bowlers.
30th over: New Zealand 109-4 (Halliday 27, Gaze 15) A single off Dean’s first ball, confirmed only after the umpires check for a run-out, and nearly a run-out also off the second – Gaze might have gone had Dean thrown the ball into the stumps rather than leaning and reaching.
29th over: New Zealand 103-4 (Halliday 26, Gaze 13) A slog sweep from Izzy Gaze lands safely between two fielders, and then Halliday hoists one straight down the ground, one bounce and over the rope.
28th over: New Zealand 94-4 (Halliday 20, Gaze 10) Halliday comes down the track and misses Dean’s second delivery, but gets a foot back before Jones takes off the bails. Two off the over, and the required run rate is at 7.22.
27th over: New Zealand 92-4 (Halliday 19, Gaze 9) Alice Capsey has a bowl for the first time. She gets one to turn nicely away from Halliday, who pulls out of her shot and gives her a nod of acknowledgement, but that’s her only dot ball.
26th over: New Zealand 86-4 (Halliday 15, Gaze 7) England miss another chance: Gaze comes down the track to Dean and misses, but behind the stumps Amy Jones fumbles when she needed only to collect and whip off the bails.
25th over: New Zealand 83-4 (Halliday 14, Gaze 5) Halfway through the innings. Gaze sends Ecclestone’s first ball looping up off a leading edge, but it lands safe.
24th over: New Zealand 80-4 (Halliday 12, Gaze 4) Charlie Dean bowls. One run is scored.
23rd over: New Zealand 79-4 (Halliday 12, Gaze 3) Ecclestone’s seventh over. Still no wickets, but she’s going at precisely three an over and concedes precisely three off this one.
22nd over: New Zealand 76-4 (Halliday 11, Gaze 1) Three runs off Charlie Dean’s second over. New Zealand need 6.3 an over from here if they’re to keep the series alive.
21st over: New Zealand 73-4 (Halliday 9, Gaze 0) Halliday hoists the ball over Bell at mid-on for a couple, and then goes a bit straighter and a bit harder, and that one runs away for four.
20th over: New Zealand 67-4 (Halliday 2, Gaze 0) Charlie Dean comes on, and it turns out the ball would have clipped leg stump, and a review wouldn’t have saved Maddy Green (though it was umpire’s call, so they wouldn’t have lost it). It also turns out the fifth ball of the 19th over, bowled by Ecclestone to Green, actually clipped the top of the bail, which didn’t even wobble.
WICKET! Green lbw b Dean 9 (New Zealand 66-4)
The batters discuss sending this upstairs, and I reckon it was worth a go – I’m not completely convinced it would have hit leg stump. Anyway, they don’t reckon it was worth a go, and off Green trudges!
19th over: New Zealand 62-3 (Green 7, Halliday 2) Dropped! Green drives just to the right of Cross at mid-off, not a difficult catch but she completely fluffs it!
18th over: New Zealand 62-3 (Green 7, Halliday 1) Just one off the over, and Sciver-Brunt has conceded eight in five. New Zealand’s task is (probably) about to tick up beyond a run a ball.
17th over: New Zealand 61-3 (Green 7, Halliday 0) England bring a short leg in as they look to keep the pressure on. Four dots follow, and then Green cuts into space for four. The last come off the pad and gives Beaumont some catching practice at short leg.
16th over: New Zealand 57-3 (Green 3) Kerr runs at Sciver-Brunt and lifts one high over mid-on. Cross turns, sprints and pulls it back from the rope to keep it down to two. Two balls later, the last before drinks, Kerr’s gone.
WICKET! Amelia Kerr c Capsey b Sciver-Brunt 14 (New Zealand 57-3)
New Zealand’s captain clips off her ankles, but too close to Capsey at square leg who takes a straightforward catch!
15th over: New Zealand 53-2 (A Kerr 11, Green 3) Five dots, and then Kerr nearly drags on the last! The first maiden over of the innings, from Ecclestone.
14th over: New Zealand 53-2 (A Kerr 11, Green 3) Sciver-Brunt keeps it tight, and her first three overs have brought a wicket and just four runs.
13th over: New Zealand 51-2 (A Kerr 10, Green 2) Kerr pulls for four, picking her spot well, and then cuts nicely but too close to the fielder at point. Ecclestone’s last ball turns sharply and beats the bat, well bowled.
12th over: New Zealand 46-2 (A Kerr 5, Green 2) One boundary in nine overs now for New Zealand, and England crowd the circle as they look to keep the pressure on. Sciver-Brunt’s second over duly goes for just one. The required run rate is up to 5.44 now, and climbing sharply.
11th over: New Zealand 45-2 (A Kerr 4, Green 2) Ecclestone only took one wicket in the first ODI, when Lauren Bell and Charlie Dean did the damage with three each. She’s accurate from the start, and the batters take a single each.
10th over: New Zealand 43-2 (A Kerr 3, Green 1) Given Bernadine Bezuidenhout’s injury the White Ferns are effectively three down. There’s no need to panic, in the face of a far from ungettable total, but their margin for error has been whittled away. And now Sophie Ecclestone is coming on.
WICKET! Bates c Capsey b Sciver-Brunt 28 (New Zealand 42-2)
Nat Sciver-Brunt takes a wicket with her first ball! Bates top-edges straight up, and it’s the simplest possible catch for Alice Capsey at square leg.
9th over: New Zealand 42-1 (Bates 28, A Kerr 3) The wind has gone right out of the Kiwi sails here, and after motoring through the first few overs they’ve been reined in – England were 39-1 at the same stage of their innings, so it’s more or less level pegging.
8th over: New Zealand 40-1 (Bates 28, A Kerr 1) Just one off the first five deliveries, but Bates goes down the wicket to the last and hits nicely through midwicket for four, her best shot so far.
7th over: New Zealand 35-1 (Bates 24, A Kerr 0) Oof! Cross continues, and Bates bottom-edges one just wide of her stumps. That can’t have been more than two inches away from her leg stump. It runs away for a couple, the only runs off Cross’s over.
6th over: New Zealand 33-1 (Bates 22, A Kerr 0) And that’s the final ball of Lauren Bell’s third over, which had previously included two singles and a wide.
WICKET! Plimmer c Jones b Bell 7 (New Zealand 33-1)
Edged, and a regulation take behind the stumps! Good line there from Bell, tempting Plimmer into wafting her bat outside off stump.
5th over: New Zealand 30-0 (Bates 21, Plimmer 6) “There’s an intensity to Suzie Bates’s eyes that I haven’t seen for a wee period of time,” we’re told. She drives Cross’s final ball straight into the stumps at the other end, which were the only things likely to stop it going for four.
4th over: New Zealand 24-0 (Bates 16, Plimmer 5) England had just nine runs at this point. New Zealand, for all that a couple of boundaries have come off the edge, haven’t offered a chance and are scoring healthily.
3rd over: New Zealand 20-0 (Bates 15, Plimmer 2) Another thick edge, another boundary for Bates, who has faced 17 of the first 18 deliveries.
2nd over: New Zealand 16-0 (Bates 11, Plimmer 2) Lauren Bell’s first ball is wild, hoops down leg and is well stopped by Amy Jones behind the stumps. There’s another wide later, a really harsh call with the ball to my eye passing just inside the line, and beyond that a misfield-assisted single and a couple off the last.
1st over: New Zealand 10-0 (Bates 10, Plimmer 0) Kate Cross opens the bowling, and Suzie Bates opens the scoring with a thick edge that flies over the two slips and away for four. Then Bates does well to reach one that swings slightly away from wide to really wide, getting it away for a couple, and well also to get an edge to the next, an inswinger arrowing towards her pads. The last ball of the over is hammered through cover for four.
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