On a beautiful, bright day in Southampton, New Zealand had yet another bad day in the field and came dangerously close to being humiliated by Ireland. However, the reigning champions maintained their composure and preserved their prospects of making the semi-finals with their first victory of the competition. New Zealand was reduced to 10 for 3 and 110 for 5 before the middle order pushed them to 140, so it was by no means a convincing day.
For the majority of the 20 overs in the chase, Ireland also made New Zealand sweat until Melie Kerr's magic arm broke the century stand between Orla Prendergast and Gaby Lewis, bringing the total to 25 required from 12.
 |
| The game was completely changed by Melie Kerr's double-wicket over |
After Lewis was out in the penultimate over, Ireland required eighteen runs from eight balls, and the two replacement batsmen had a much harder time hitting the big shots. It was reduced to 15 in the last over by Louise Little and Leah Paul. Suzie Bates, playing in her debut World Cup match, took Sophie Devine's place after she became ill shortly before the match. Paul and Little failed to reach a boundary because of Bates' slow pace, and they lost by four runs when they needed six off the final ball.
New Zealand, who are now fourth in Group 2, will be the most aware of the fact that they will need to do much better in order to advance to the knockout stages. They will play their final league match against England following their next match against Scotland.
Prendergast was in charge of Ireland, and only three days after they scared England as well, she first hurt New Zealand with her new-ball explosion before her 45-ball half-century brought Ireland painfully near. Melie, New Zealand's all-rounder, emerged as the team's hero as well, pulling them out of a hole and ultimately taking two vital wickets.
The Prendergast explosion
Prendergast, who kept aiming for the top of the middle stump and was rewarded twice, was largely responsible for New Zealand's early difficulties. When Isabella Gaze failed to scoop the first ball of the second over for just one, she fell first. The score was 6 for 2 because she fell the very next delivery after Georgia Plimmer had handed off a catch straight to mid-off.
New Zealand had fallen to 10 for 3 when Maddy Green, who had consumed five dots, charged against Prendergast at the beginning of the third over. However, after two overs that yielded figures of 2 for 6 with eight dot balls, Prendergast was dismissed. Melie and Brooke Halliday came to their aid as the skipper frequently went out against the spinners to rotate the strike and find boundaries. In the final over of the power play, Melie scooped and cut Arlene Kelly for back-to-back boundaries to increase the scoring pace.
Bates, Halliday, and Sharp elevate New Zealand
Ireland bowled cleverly to their fields at the beginning, keeping Halliday mostly silent. Melie, however, also died, holing out to deep midwicket for 30 off 24 as the Ireland spinners significantly slowed down to make hitting much more difficult. Isabella Sharp began to locate the gaps more frequently, but Halliday remained mostly anchored. Finally, a boundary was hit from overs 10 to 13, raising the run rate from under six to 6.61.
However, Ireland retaliated, eliminating the set batsmen and drying up the boundaries for the following 35 balls. Sharp holed out to long-off for 36 off 28 after Halliday, who had just got medical attention, stroked one straight to short fine leg for 34 in the 17th over. For the first time in her 19-year career, Bates batted at No. 7 in Twenty20 Internationals. She completed the innings with a desperate six pulled from far outside off after exposing her stumps, and she also ended the boundary drought with a reverse lap.
Lewis and Prendergast almost succeed
With a speed of nearly 120 kph and a height that caused discomfort for Ireland's top order, left-arm fast Bree Illing gave New Zealand's defence a blazing start. Amy Hunter was dismissed for two by an inswinging yorker, and Prendergast and Lewis bowled her final three overs in a row.
Prendergast and Lewis took advantage of the fact that the rest of the attack didn't appear to be as dangerous, particularly by moving out and creating space to identify the holes. When a leaping Nensi Patel got a hand to a slice at one point but only got fingers, Prendergast also lost his life. As the runs continued to flow and wickets eluded them by narrow margins, New Zealand was clearly under pressure.
On 25 off Melie in the ninth over, Lewis survived a noisy lbw protest, and New Zealand lost a review because ball-tracking revealed the ball was missing leg stumps. Three overs later, Prendergast was dismissed lbw off Jess Kerr, but a review saved her because ball-tracking once more revealed the ball moving down leg. In the following, they each selected a boundary of Nensi's, bringing the equation down from 42 to 59. New Zealand was losing the match with just five bowlers available.
Melie grabs the match
With two overs remaining, Melie pulled herself back for the fourteenth, and Prendergast hit a six off her leg side to make it fifty from thirty-six. Melie's final effort in the 18th over ultimately proved successful for New Zealand, although that quickly turned into 34 from 24. Two balls later, Rebecca Stokell smashed one to cover after she had Prendergast hole out to deep mid-wicket.
Ireland had lost the four-run over. Lewis seized control as the set batter with 25 to get from 12, but after a boundary, she skied one to cover, making the game New Zealand's to lose. Bates added the final touches with the ball as well, and Ireland was only defeated by a run of singles and doubles off her bowling.
No comments:
Post a Comment