England ended New Zealand’s reign as Women’s T20 World Cup champions with a convincing nine-wicket win at The Oval on Saturday.The defending champions bowed out after losing three of their five group stage matches.Earlier in the day, New Zealand received an unexpected boost when Ireland defeated the West Indies by six wickets in Bristol, keeping the Kiwis’ semi-final hopes alive.Ireland’s win also ended a 12-year run of 21 losses in five Women’s T20 World Cups.“A few of us are half-Irish now,” New Zealand veteran Sophie Devine joked. “(Our) destiny is in our hands.”However, New Zealand still needed to beat unbeaten England to reach the semi-finals ahead of the West Indies.
Wyatt-Hodge gives England an easy chase
After New Zealand scored 163/6, England hit the target with ease, reaching 164/1 with 16 balls to spare.Opener Danni Wyatt-Hodge led the charge with an unbeaten 89 off 53 balls, smashing 15 fours and one six in front of 21,018 – the biggest ever attendance for a T20 Women’s World Cup group stage match.The two remaining semi-final spots will be decided on Sunday, with Australia, South Africa and India still in contention.
Wyatt-Hodge breaks tournament record
Wyatt-Hodge continued her outstanding tournament after scoring 100 in England’s first game. Now he has two fifties and a hundred in the competition.With 282 runs, she is arguably the top scorer of the tournament. She also broke the Women’s T20 World Cup record for most runs in a single edition, surpassing Beth Mooney’s 259 runs set in 2020, with potentially two more matches to play.The England opener survived two early chances. She was left behind off stump before opening her account and also got another straw for the rescue in the 13th over when a stunning opportunity was missed.Her fifty came off just 33 balls. She shared a match-winning partnership of 128 off 80 balls with Sophia Dunkley, who remained unbeaten on 49 off 38 balls with nine boundaries. Dunkely is England’s second highest run scorer in the tournament with 120 runs.
New Zealand fell short despite a solid start
New Zealand opted to bat first and got off to a strong start through the 70-run opening partnership between Isabella Gaze and Melia Kerr.But the innings lost momentum when Gaze, Kerr and Izzy Sharp were dismissed within four deliveries. Brooke Halliday and Sophie Devine added 74 runs before both fell in the same over.Maddy Green and Suzie Bates tried to finish strongly but New Zealand’s total fell well short of what was needed against a powerful England batting line-up.
The end of an era for New Zealand
The defeat also marked the end of the international careers of Sophie Devine, Suzie Bates and fast bowler Lee Tahuhu.The trio were signed after racking up almost 900 international appearances for New Zealand.
