England ended New Zealand’s reign as Women’s T20 World Cup champions with a 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 had 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 21-match losing streak in five Women’s T20 World Cups over 12 years.“A few of us are half-Irish now,” New Zealand veteran Sophie Devine joked. “(Our) destiny is in our hands.”However, New Zealand still need to beat an unbeaten English side to reach the semi-finals ahead of the West Indies.
Wyatt-Hodge allows England to chase easily
After New Zealand posted 163/6, England chased down 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 a six in front of 21,018 spectators – the highest 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 the tournament record
Wyatt-Hodge continued his outstanding tournament after scoring a century in England’s opening match. Now he has two years fifty and one hundred in the competition.With 282 runs, he is comfortably the highest run scorer in 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 matches to play.The England opener survived two early chances. She was dropped behind the stumps before opening her account and was also given another lifeline on the 13th when a stumping chance was missed.His fifty came off just 33 balls. She shared a match-winning partnership of 128 from 80 balls with Sophia Dunkley, who was unbeaten on 49 from 38 balls with nine boundaries. Dunkley is England’s second highest run scorer in the tournament with 120 runs.
New Zealand fell despite a solid start
New Zealand chose to bat first and got off to a strong start through a 70-run opening partnership between Isabella Gaze and Melie Kerr.But the innings lost momentum when Gaze, Kerr and Izzy Sharp were dismissed in the space of four deliveries. Brooke Halliday and Sophie Devine added 74 runs before both fell in the same.Maddy Green and Suzie Bates tried to finish strongly, but New Zealand’s total fell well short of what was needed against England’s powerful batting lineup.
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 Lea Tahuhu.The trio signed off after making almost 900 combined international appearances for New Zealand.
