England registered a convincing win over New Zealand at Eden Park in Auckland on Sunday (March 20). Maddy Green's fifty (52) helped New Zealand put up a total of 203 where both Kate Cross and Sophie Ecclestone claimed 3 wickets each. On the other hand, Natalie Sciver scored a stable fifty (61) to guide her side to a win.
Follow Us
England registered a convincing win over New Zealand at Eden Park in Auckland on Sunday (March 20). Maddy Green’s fifty (52) helped New Zealand put up a total of 203 where both Kate Cross and Sophie Ecclestone claimed 3 wickets each. On the other hand, Natalie Sciver scored a stable fifty (61) to guide her side to a win.
After the win, Heather Knight, the England captain said: “Credit to New Zealand, they fought hard and made it interesting. We have been on the wrong side of the results. We know how Sophie feels and how gutting it can be. It’s a tough win for us. The top order, one of us has to clearly go and do the job. Obviously the conditions changed a bit with the weather but the main thing is we got the win. Dean is a wicket-taker. She is attacking. Glad she has come in and done so well. We will reflect on this win and see what we can do better to make it easier. I think we are building. We haven’t quite played our best cricket, but two more important games coming up to give us a chance to play the semifinal.”
READ MORE: CWC22: South Africa vs New Zealand: Kapp guides Proteas to a nail-biting win
Sophie Devine said: “I am so proud of the girls for what they did. We knew we were 40-50 runs short on that wicket, but to take it this deep was incredible. The crowd was amazing too. The girls are gutted but it is cricket. We lost three games by 2-3 wickets or few runs. If we had won those we may not even be thinking about those things. The hard thing is we could have done a lot of things different. But there are a lot of positives to take. This group we have got here is high level of care. We genuinely like each other and it’s like a family.”
“We might not be together after this tournament. So we spoke about enjoying every moment. The highs and lows are going to come. It’s not cricket, it’s life. We want to make sure we got out with a bang. Lea’s hamstring played out again, she has been managing it for the last couple of weeks. My back let me down today, hopefully it will be fine tomorrow. Probably a hint that I am getting old and maybe move on (smiles). Injuries happen. Fingers crossed,” he shared.
Natalie Sciver said: “Didn’t realize how much it was raining. They really turned the pressure on us. We left it for the cool ice Anya Shrubsole to do it for us. It is very hard on the bench. There have been so many close games in the tournament. I knew I had to do most of the scoring. I didn’t mind facing too many balls. It was pretty tough bowling in the windy conditions.”
