England beat New Zealand by 123 runs at The 3aaa County Ground to seal a Royal London Women’s One-Day International series victory with one game left to play.
Tammy Beaumont hit 67 and Sophie Ecclestone took 3-14 as England put in an all-round performance to win at a canter in front of a good crowd in Derby.
Almost a year on from the 2017 ICC Women’s World Cup champions’ win over the White Ferns at Derby, The 3aaa County Ground played host to another thrilling encounter between two of the world’s best teams.
England’s Heather Knight won the toss and elected to bat first, as openers Amy Jones and Beaumont were watchful in the early stages on a testing wicket.
The pair scored at a steady rate as the partnership reached 40 before Sophie Devine got the breakthrough to remove Jones for 20 in the tenth over.
England slipped to 92-3 and Nat Sciver came to the middle to join the fluent Beaumont as the latter brought up her half-century from 58 balls in the 22nd over, with the pair combining well to notch their fifty partnership four overs later.
However, spinner Jess Watkin came into the attack to end the partnership and remove Beaumont for a well-made 67 before Danni Wyatt (8) also fell to leave the score at 163-5 after 30 overs.
Sciver continued her fine form at The 3aaa County Ground to record her ninth career ODI half-century, following on from her blistering 129 at Derby against the White Ferns nearly a year ago.
Kasperek returned to the attack to take the wicket of Sciver (54) before all-rounder Katherine Brunt made a short cameo of 25 England set New Zealand 242 runs to win.
Sophie Devine seemed to get the White Ferns’ innings off to a flier as she hit three boundaries from a Katie George over to accelerate the score to 17-0 after two overs.
However, George responded well to remove Devine two overs later for a quick-fire 14. The fast bowler was bowling with confidence as she also dismissed Amy Satterthwaite (1) to claim her second wicket.
Brunt supported George well and the pair frustrated the New Zealand batsmen. It eventually paid dividends as she removed Katey Martin for nine to reduce the visitors to 36-3 after seven overs.
Maddy Green then came to the crease to join captain Suzie Bates as the pair set about rebuilding the innings. Both Bates (24) and Green (20) scored at a steady rate before they fell in the space of four overs.
The dismissals of Bates and Green started a New Zealand collapse as the visitors slipped from 79-5 to 118 all out.
Sophie Ecclestone added two to her earlier wicket to claim figures of 3-14 and George also finished with a flurry to claim her third wicket of the match.
England lead the three-match series 2-0 before the two sides face off in the final One-Day International at The Fischer County Ground on Friday 13 July.
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