Charlotte Dean holds her nerve as England edge one-wicket thriller
On Sunday, May 10, England defeated New Zealand by one wicket in a nerve-wracking opening ODI at the Riverside Ground in Chester-le-Street, taking a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.
England chose to field first, and they got off to a great start. In the second over of the game, veteran Suzie Bates was run out by Lauren Filer for six. Captain Amelia Kerr dug in alongside Georgia Plimmer and despite the odd boundary, New Zealand could only manage 39 runs in the 10-over first Powerplay.
Tilly Corteen-Coleman, a teenage left-arm spinner, then struck for her first ODI wicket when Plimmer mishit a shot to Lauren Bell at mid-off. Kerr and Maddy Green continued to work together for a long time, but England controlled the scoring rate well in the middle overs, scoring only 51 runs between overs 20 and 33. Both batters notched up their fifties before debutant Jodie Grewcock broke the 105-run stand and while Green continued to tick along, Brooke Halliday and Isabella Gaze perished cheaply.
New Zealand appeared well-positioned for a score in the 240s with 201/5 in 45 overs. But when Corteen-Coleman hit Green for a 107-ball 88, everything went wrong. Bell then struck off consecutive deliveries - Amy Jones effected a sharp stumping to dismiss Izzy Sharp before Nensi Patel was out LBW.
Skipper Charlotte Dean castled Jess Kerr before the innings ended in a run-out as New Zealand lost their last five wickets for just seven runs and were bowled out with eight balls still to be played.
Before England got past the first Powerplay, Emma Lamb and Heather Knight lost Grewcock in the fourth over of their chase. England were struggling at 42/3 when Rosemary Mair and Nensi struck in quick succession to eliminate both batters.
That's when Freya Kemp and Maia Bouchier stabilized the chase with a 68-run partnership, effectively putting the hosts in charge. The last ball of the 26th over brought about a turning point. Before the bowler could get a grip on the ball during the dive, Bouchier firmly hit a Mair delivery straight back. She was run out with Kemp out of the crease and her bat in the air, and Jones was out quickly for three by Mair. Bouchier, who scored fifty, was then well assisted by Dani Gibson, who made her ODI debut as well.
Amelia Kerr, on the other hand, threw out Gibson and Bouchier, bringing New Zealand back into the game with a score of 160/7. After that, Dean and Bell dragged the situation along, with Bell primarily preventing at one end, but when she saw an opportunity, she swung hard for a few boundaries. England regained the lead after a 35-run partnership, but then Bell and Filer were bowled, and England needed 10 runs to win out of 26 balls.
Nensi's catch to grant Dean a reprieve prevented New Zealand from concluding the deal. England held on for dear life as the skipper and Corteen-Coleman completed the task.
