ENGLAND v NEW ZEALAND: 2nd T20 – Shore Leave!

England took a 2-0 series lead against New Zealand, winning a rain-shortened match at Hove by 23 runs on DLS.

England made two changes – bringing in Lauren Bell for Linsey Smith, and Dani Gibson for Freya Kemp – presumably with giving Bell and Gibson game-time and the opportunity to show what they can do, rather than dropping either Smith or Kemp. (Smith bowled well at Southampton, while Kemp played a key innings with the bat, and though Kemp didn’t bowl well, England’s management would probably have just been pleased that she got through 4 overs without breaking down.)

New Zealand also made changes, including bringing back Leigh Kasperek for her first game for the White Ferns since an outing against Sri Lanka almost exactly a year ago – reward for a decent home summer that saw her finish as the second-highest wicker-taker in both the Super Smash and the Hallyburton Johnstone Shield.

Heather Knight said at the toss that “you’ve got more time than you think” batting in these shortened games, but England’s batters came out swinging with the wild abandon of a shipful of pirates on shore leave – none more so that Sophie Ecclestone, who for the second time in her career finished her innings with a Strike Rate of 600 by smashing the final ball of the match for 6, having previously done it in an ODI against West Indies in 2019. (I’m pretty sure that she is the only player to have done this, but if anybody knows better, let me know!)

England’s approach of trying to blast the ball up into the night sky and out of the ground largely paid off with the reduced overs. 89 was a decent total, at a run rate which would have netted them 198 in a full 20 overs, though of course because it cost them 6 wickets they would have been bowled out playing like that in a full T20.

On a night where fortune favoured the bold Alice Capsey, who top-scored here against Sri Lanka last summer, did it again making 28 off 16 balls before failing to read to a slower ball from Jess Kerr – perhaps an inevitable consequence of the strategy of semi-premeditated shot selection without which she wouldn’t have got the runs she did.

Heather Knight was the only one who really heeded her own advice of not trying to swashbuckle it out to sea, and consequently put in an effective cameo, adding 15 off 8 at the back end.

It was the kind of total that Sophie Devine and Suzie Bates would have had a shot at back in their “Smash Sisters” prime, but neither are quite generating the power they once did, and no one else in the New Zealand lineup is stepping up – Melie Kerr can effectively manufacture runs when she has a bit more time, but she isn’t a power hitter either; and regardless of wickets, New Zealand just weren’t getting the runs on the board when play was curtailed by further rain with 6.4 overs bowled – the White Ferns falling short by 23 runs after DLS had its say.

It’s hard to say much about England’s bowling, given that they only bowled 6.4 overs between them, though Charlie Dean was given Player of the Match after taking 2-3 in the one over she bowled, and given that it was already drizzling again by the time Dean came on, maintaining any degree of control as a finger-spinner was certainly impressive. Lauren Bell also looked firey in her one over, which was important given that England will be looking to her to continue her turnaround following her 5fer in the final ODI.

England did field a bit better than they had at Southampton, though Nat Sciver dropped another sitter; but again, it is hard to judge anything much on such a short thrash. Let’s hope for better weather and some more meaningful outings in the remaining 3 matches, at Canterbury, The Oval and finishing-up at Lords – the final games England’s 1st XI currently have scheduled prior to the World Cup in October*.

* There are 3 ODIs and 3 T20s in the calendar against Ireland in September,  but England have said they will effectively play a 2nd team in that series.