White Ferns crush England

The White Ferns finished their Bay Oval residency with resounding success, crushing England by nine wickets on Sunday on the back of a career-best unbeaten 96 from opener Rachel Priest.

In the third and final ODI in Mount Maunganui, Priest, with solid support from Suzie Bates (39) and Amy Satterthwaite (76 not out), clinched an impressive victory together with two more ICC Women's Championship points.


An England batswoman looks to go big against the White Ferns at the Bay Oval. Photos: Cameron Avery.

Player of the Match Priest, whose previous ODI best was 74, narrowly missed out on a maiden ODI century after Satterthwaite lifted her strike rate at the death, finding the boundary several times as they closed in on their target of 218.

Weathering a strong fightback mid-innings from the England attack, the pair had already notched up a 100-run second wicket stand off 159 balls and needed their last 50 runs from 10 overs.

Heather Knight had been the most troublesome with the ball, her set of 10 overs costing just 18 runs.

But the ever upbeat Priest was philosophical about being stranded on 96.

'I was just happy to get the win, to be honest,” she says. 'Amy was cruising it at the end, and I was just sitting back and watching — it was great.

'She batted so well, and she did that all of the domestic season, too. For her to fight like that and come through at the end was fantastic for her.”

Earlier, after England elected to bat, spinner Erin Bermingham (3-35) put the brakes on England's momentum, removing openers Charlotte Edwards and Heather Knight.

Knight fell for 79 in the 41st over, when she had been ideally placed to up the tempo at the death.

She had also been charged with holding England's innings together after the loss of Lauren Winfield had set off a domino effect, with seven wickets falling for just 105 runs after they had been well placed at 133/2.

Morna Nielsen was the unsung heroine of the White Ferns, creating superb pressure at a rate of just 2.6 off her 10 overs that was backed up by another aggressive fielding effort.

The White Ferns' 2-1 win sees them move up to sixth on the ICC Women's Championship, leapfrogging India and Sri Lanka. England are placed third while Australia remain unbeaten from six matches.

The teams now head to Whangarei for two Twenty20 Internationals before closing out the series with a further three ODIs in Lincoln.

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