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Despite declarations from both teams to try and force a result, the first unofficial Test between New Zealand A and India A in Lincoln ended in a draw

ESPNcricinfo staff29-Sep-2012
ScorecardDespite declarations from both teams to try and force a result, the first unofficial Test between New Zealand A and India A in Lincoln ended in a draw. India needed two wickets and New Zealand 41 runs from a maximum of 20 overs, when play was called off due to bad light.India, from an overnight 132 for 2, got to 208 for 4, before declaring just over an hour into the day’s play. That meant New Zealand needed 314 from a maximum of 82 overs. First-innings centurion Tom Latham could not fire again in the chase, but a 149-run between George Worker and Neil Broom meant the hosts were in relative control at 169 for 1. However, once Jaydev Unadkat had Broom caught on 72, India struck with regularity to get back into the game. New Zealand lost seven wickets for the next 101 runs in 19 overs, to be reduced to fighting for survival. Vinay Kumar was the pick of the India bowlers, taking 3 for 47 in a tight spell.The second unofficial Test will be played from Wednesday, at the same venue.

Also said that selectors have told him to go beyond just scoring half-centuries in ODIs

Andrew Fidel Fernando13-May-2021Fearlessness. If there’s one change Sri Lanka’s new ODI captain Kusal Perera would like to usher in, it is for his team to play as he says he does: completely unafraid.Perera has been appointed leader of a young squad, which is without several big names, including Angelo Mathews, and now has the opportunity to turn around Sri Lanka’s poor form in the format – the side having slipped to ninth on the ICC rankings. Perera has long been one of the most aggressive batsmen in Sri Lanka’s ranks, and early indications are that he would like the team to embrace that ethos.”We have to play fearless cricket to win matches,” he said, a day after his appointment as captain was made official. “You can’t be fearful about losing. If you’re worried about your place, you aren’t going to give 100%. What I’m going to tell the players is to go and give it everything. If we play fearlessly even when we are practicing, then you will be able to play the same way in a match. That’s what I’ve told the team. If we are fearful, we will fall even further. I’m trying to build a culture where the players have a lot of confidence.”Perera’s own most notable innings have been aggressive ones. In Tests, his 153 not out off 200 in Durban is now counted among the format’s greatest knocks. In ODIs, he has hit the second-equal fastest half-century – off 17 balls, against Pakistan, in 2015.”I really like to play fearless cricket personally, and that’s where my success has been. Whenever I’ve played with fear, it hasn’t worked for me. I want everyone else to play like that. You can’t guarantee that you will go right playing this way, but the chances of things going well are greater.””But you have to practice well to instill that fearlessness. Because if you are 100% certain about the shot you’re playing, you can play without fear. You need to understand your strengths and weaknesses. Where does the ball need to be for me to hit it? Will I get myself in trouble by hitting there? You need to have that understanding. If you’re a bowler, you need to know which ball can get you a wicket, and which will help you bowl a dot. These things help you play fearlessly. As a fielding unit, you have to carry that same ethos as well, and I have big hopes for the upcoming Bangladesh series about our fielding.”Although Perera has sparkled briefly, however, his overall record as a batsman is modest. After 96 ODI innings, he averages 31.04, with a strike rate of 92.04. The responsibility of leadership, he hoped, would bring bigger personal scores as well.”What the selectors told me when they appointed me was that I often get a 50 or a 60 and get out without getting to a 100. I accept that. If I score a hundred, the chances of winning the match go up. You can’t get a 100 every game, but when you get a start, you need to make sure you convert. They expect me to take that responsibility.”

English cricket must endure a multi-million pound drop in funding from Sport England as Olympic sports have been the big winners in the award of grants for the next four years.

David Hopps17-Dec-2012English cricket must endure a multi-million pound drop in funding from Sport England as Olympic sports, benefiting from the fervour of the London Olympics, have been the big winners in the award of grants for the next four years.ECB officials expressed “delight” at an outcome which still leaves cricket as the fifth largest recipient of funding, behind cycling, football, netball and athletics.But for all the relief in high places at Lord’s cricket has suffered from a sizeable shift in grant aid to Olympic sports as the feel-good factor of London 2012 brings a major change in the funding landscape.Cricket has been awarded £20m over four years – a drop of £15.2m – although the pill is sugared to a considerable degree by a further guaranteed £7.5m over three years made directly to the much-praised Chance to Shine programme, run by the Cricket Foundation, which seeks to regenerate cricket in state schools by fostering links with local clubs.

Sport England’s priorities

• Support the nationwide network of 5,500 clubs to keep more club cricketers in the game for longer.

• To establish more flexible formats of the game. Short formats of the game such as Last Man Stands will achieve national coverage and will encourage those with busy lifestyles and former cricketers unable to give up valuable leisure time to return to the wicket.

• Develop networks and partnerships to take cricket to new audiences including the desire to harness the inherent appeal of the game within South Asian Communities

• Encourage more disabled people to take up the game through a targeted programme called Hit the Top.

• Continue talent development in disability cricket. As a result of the priority, investment and energy ECB has given to the disability game in recent years England have become world leaders in disability cricket, both on and off the field.

• Focus the women’s game on the supply of players with high potential into the elite academies and development programmes.

The scheme previously existed on an annual grant that would match its own fund raising pound for pound – equivalent to roughly £1.5m a year – but with charitable donations down 20% this year and one in six charities threatened by closure the grant offers much-needed stability.Sport England has awarded a total of £493m from 2013-17, a rise of 12.5 which bucks the trend of Government austerity measures intended to reduce the national debt, a largesse which will not find favour with non-sport lovers and which goes a long way to explaining the ECB’s relief.Phil Smith, Sport England’s director of sport, said: “Cricket has made good progress in the past 18 months and we are confident that it can build further momentum over the next four years. We are particularly interested in the progress made in women’s cricket and the initiatives which focus on disabled participation. The sport has acknowledged the need to do more to help the South Asian communities who have strong cultural links to cricket get involved and we look forward to seeing growth in this area.”The ECB, fearful of an even tighter settlement, has agreed to fund its own development of women’s and disability cricket, which has received praise from Sport England – but no funding.Jennie Price, chief executive of Sport England said: “It looks like quite a big drop, but the ECB have decided to invest their own money into their women’s and disability programmes and that is a good thing for a responsible governing body to do.”Nevertheless, the emphasis switches to those sports where Olympic medals. Sport England’s media release boasted that its investment would “keep the inspiration of London 2012 alive and help fulfil Lord Coe’s pledge that the Games would get more people – young and old, women and men – playing sport, a feat that no other host nation has ever managed to achieve.”The Minister for Sport, Hugh Robertson, proclaimed that the shift in funding would ensure “a lasting legacy” from the Olympics.The major winners in Sport England’s settlement are cycling, triathlon, netball and boxing, all of which gained rises of more than 25%, while rugby union, rugby league and tennis – which have been even more savagely hit – join cricket as other team sports which must plan on a tighter budget.The ECB can congratulate itself that its commitment to increasing grassroots involvement has prevented it from suffering the treatment meted out to tennis, which will lose millions in funding unless participation levels increase.Chance to Shine’s emphasis – as far as Sport England’s funding is concerned – will shift away from primary schools, where pupils have been most receptive, to secondary schools in a nationwide campaign to counter the drop-off in participation in sport particularly apparent among 14 to 16-yearolds.At least 60 per cent of the investment announced today will support young people aged between 14 and 25.The Cricket Foundation will deliver a cricket programme to more than 1,000 state schools through ECB’s network of 38 county cricket boards. Creating strong links between community sports clubs and schools is the central focus and the charity plans a three-pronged approach: establishing satellite clubs in schools, embedding competition within them and providing training opportunities for young people.Local cricket clubs will be invited to work closely with coaches, young people and teachers to set up a satellite cricket club on school sites. Pupils will be at the heart of decision making and shape how the school club is run. Activity at the club may range from extra-curricular coaching and forums to discuss club activity, to organising social events and ambassador visits.As well as helping more young players move into their local cricket club, the satellite clubs aim to teach life skills such as leadership, teamwork and co-operation.Competition is a key motivation for young people in secondary schools and the Cricket Foundation plans to expand its ‘Chance to Compete’ format; fast-moving eight-a-side matches played in less than an hour.During the winter, schools will be supported to hold indoor soft-ball competitions in school sports halls and community centres, with the hardball equivalent played outside during the spring and summer terms. The new offer to secondary schools will increase competitive cricket opportunities by encouraging each to play a minimum of five competitive matches annually.Wasim Khan, chief executive of Cricket Foundation said, “Sport England has been a key strategic partner for Chance to Shine over the past seven years. We are delighted that it will continue its investment in Chance to Shine and in the young people we reach for the next three years at least.”Since 2005, Chance to Shine claims to have brought cricket and its educational benefits to 6,591 state schools and 1.8m children at a cost of £15 per child.

England vice-captain also backs return of Alex Hales once trust issues are dealt with

Matt Roller09-Mar-2021Jos Buttler has admitted it would be “bittersweet” to miss the start of England’s home summer in order to play in the knockout stages of the IPL, and said that the prospect of having to choose one over the other has left him in a “far-from-perfect situation”.England’s home season will begin with a Test against New Zealand at Lord’s on June 2, three days after the final of the IPL on May 30. While it is not yet clear whether England’s multi-format players would be able to appear in both competitions, the ECB has told them they will be able to stay in India until their involvement in the IPL has come to an end.Buttler, a key player for Rajasthan Royals since he was signed ahead of the 2018 season, admitted that he had considered opting out of the IPL, but emphasised the positive impact that players’ involvement in the competition has had on England’s limited-overs sides and defended the ECB rest-and-rotation policy that saw him fly home for the final three Tests of the recent series in India.Related

• Alex Hales given hope of England recall

• England players could miss NZ Tests to play IPL knockouts

• Royals bank on having Buttler, Stokes, Archer for full IPL

• Sam Billings: 'I just want to be tricky to bowl at'

• 'I came back from the IPL a much better player' – Sam Curran

“I completely understand certain people will have an opinion one way and certain people another way,” Buttler said. “All I can say is the IPL has had an outstanding effect on English cricket so far and the individuals involved in it.”The tournament is the biggest in the whole of cricket in terms of money. Careers can be short. But we know playing for England is a huge draw for everyone and we’re very well remunerated playing for England – we’re very fortunate in that case.”It makes it a tough decision. Of course the schedule at the moment is very tough and there is no perfect balance to it. The ECB and the players work very closely together to try and manage that, so is there a perfect answer at the moment? No. And certainly not in the times we are operating in at the moment.”Buttler confirmed that he is likely to miss the first Test against New Zealand if Rajasthan reach the latter stages of the competition – the group stage ends on May 23, so players whose teams do not make the knockouts should be available – but said that the fact the Tests had been added to England’s calendar late in the day had been a major factor in the clash.”Those New Zealand Tests have been added to a very busy schedule quite late on,” he said. “It’s always going be bittersweet if you’re missing games with England or whatever opportunities you are missing, but we don’t know how far players are going to get into that tournament [the IPL] or if you’re actually going to miss them.”The ECB have said it looked like if you were involved in the IPL you’d be staying. I think that agreement was probably in place before the NZ Tests were announced. I think the ECB are keeping consistent with where they were at before those games got put in the schedule.”Buttler also said that he had no objections to the prospect of Alex Hales being recalled to the side following his two-year absence from international cricket, sparked by a second positive test for recreational drugs shortly before the 2019 World Cup.Ed Smith, the national selector, hinted last month that Hales might be reintegrated into the squad during the summer, and Eoin Morgan, England’s captain, echoed his comments in an interview with the on Monday.”My view on that has always been that the trust that Alex has lost will take time to rebuild and one of the issues we have had around having players who would either be trying to get into the side or wanting to come in and us have a look at them in and around training, hasn’t been possible around Covid,” Morgan said.”Trying to integrate players in that sense hasn’t been possible during this period. It’s looking like by the time we get home for the international summer the restrictions might be eased so that for the process of getting guys in and around the squad, there could be an opportunity to do that. There is a chance that he might be around the group and that opportunity might be there.”Buttler said: “I’d be fine with that. We were all disappointed with how that episode played out. As Eoin has talked about a lot of the time, there’s an element of trust that needs to be rebuilt. He’s said it’s harder to do that in this day and age: it’s harder to get people in and out of teams and environments. I’m sure when the time is right Eoin will talk to Alex and the selectors. We all know what a brilliant player he is, so if he can be reintegrated into the side and is playing well and warrants selection I’m all for that.”I think everyone is pretty grown-up and if there were ill feelings, [they would be] nothing that couldn’t be sorted out with some man-to-man conversations. The white-ball side has been together a long time and Alex was a huge part of that for a long time. I’m sure a lot of the guys stay in close touch with him. I don’t foresee there being problems and if there were then they could be sorted out.”

The selectors will name a new captain for the tour on Thursday

ESPNcricinfo staff30-Dec-2020Pakistan Women captain Bismah Maroof has withdrawn from next month’s tour of South Africa due to family reasons. Maroof was part of the training camp that started on December 20 in Karachi before she returned to Lahore to join her family on Wednesday.”Bismah approached us with a request to be exempted from next month’s tour to South Africa for family reasons, which we have accepted,” Urooj Mumtaz, head of the women’s wing and the chief selector, said in a PCB release. “She was obviously disappointed to miss the series, but family always has to come first.”When we’ll announce the 17-player squad on Thursday, we’ll name the stand-in captain as well for the South Africa tour, which comprises three ODIs and three T20Is.”Maroof, 29, is Pakistan’s second most-capped women’s player in ODIs and most capped among the current players. She has played 108 matches, with Sana Mir leading the list with 120. In the ODI run-scoring charts too, Maroof is second with her tally of 2602 runs, after Javeria Khan’s 2693.In T20Is, however, Maroof is the most capped (108 matches) as well as the top run-scorer with 2225 runs.The squad picked on Thursday will depart for Durban on January 11, and they can start training and play intra-squad matches from January 13. The tour will begin on January 20 with the first two ODIs in Durban, before moving to Pietermaritzburg for the third ODI and the first two T20Is and then returning to Durban again for the third T20I on February 3. The first ODI and the last T20I will be day-night games. The ODIs will be broadcast live by SuperSport in South Africa and the T20Is will be live-streamed.Twenty-seven players had started training for the tour in a biosecure environment in Karachi as Pakistan also prepare to participate in the Women’s World Cup Qualifier in July 2021 to try and make it to the main event in early 2022 in New Zealand. The players at the camp have been undergoing routine testing in line with the PCB Covid-19 protocols.The tour will also be the first official assignment of head coach David Hemp and bowling coach Arshad Khan.

Cricket Australia chief James Sutherland has said Australia will ‘need to adjust to’ the conditions in the UAE for their upcoming series against Pakistan, but the adjustment they must make will not be ‘that significant’

ESPNcricinfo staff15-Jul-2012Cricket Australia (CA) chief executive James Sutherland has said Australia will ‘need to adjust to’ the conditions in the UAE for their upcoming series against Pakistan, but the required adjustment will not be ‘that significant’.Australia are set to play three Twenty20s and three ODIs in the UAE in in August and September, with the matches beginning in the late evening to avoid the worst of the daytime heat. The heat and the decision to start the one-dayers at 6pm – meaning the scheduled finish is 1.45am – continue to be an issue with the Australian Cricketers’ Association (ACA) though.”It’ll be hot, but the sun’s not going to be shining and that’s probably the really important factor there,” Sutherland told . “In terms of the hours, it’s not ideal but at the same time it’s just an adjustment that the players will need to [make]. It’s the same for both teams.”There are many people in the world who work different hours and these will be different hours for our players, unconventional hours for cricket perhaps. But the game’s only going a couple of hours later than it would ordinarily, so I’m not sure that adjustment is really that significant.”CA officials will visit the UAE next week, to assess the conditions. There had been much debate over the actual make-up of the series, which is a ‘home’ series for Pakistan. The ACA had expressed its concerns about playing ODIs in such hot weather, prompting the series to be changed to a six-match Twenty20 affair, which was approved by the ICC in June. However, the PCB then approached the Australian board, putting forward a request to review the composition of the series once again. ESPNcricinfo understands that the series’ broadcaster had objected to six Twenty20s for commercial reasons. The new schedule was announced by the PCB earlier this month.The venue of the series had also been an issue. It was initially scheduled to be played in Sri Lanka but Pakistan were forced to search for an alternate venue after Sri Lanka backed out in May, citing the clash in the dates with the inaugural Sri Lanka Premier League.

Four former cricketers resigned from their administrative positions in the Mumbai Cricket Association yesterday

ESPNcricinfo staff09-Oct-2012Four former cricketers resigned from their administrative positions in the Mumbai Cricket Association yesterday. The list includes selector Milind Rege, and MCA’s Cricket Improvement Committee (CIC) members Balwinder Singh Sandhu, Nilesh Kulkarni and Karsan Ghavri.Former Mumbai cricketer Rege, who has been an MCA selector since 1980s, was reportedly not happy with the MCA’s decision to appoint Abey Kuruvilla as the chairman of the senior selection committee. Kuruvilla’s name was recently proposed by the MCA for the post of national selector, but BCCI appointed Sandeep Patil from the West Zone.”Why did they make me chairman [last season]?” Rege said in . “When your agenda is not Mumbai cricket and something else, then there is no point in continuing. The selection process was being questioned – this I have never experienced. When there is no respect and only humiliation, then it is time to go.”Rege said he doesn’t aspire to become a national selector and therefore his focus is only on Mumbai cricket.Sandhu, Kulkarni and Ghavri also resigned saying that the purpose of the CIC was not being served. “I was contemplating [resignation] for some time, but was hoping things would improve. It didn’t happen and that’s why I resigned,” Sandhu said.Kulkarni said that he gave his best for Mumbai cricket but was not happy in the current MCA environment.

He ends a nearly 20-year career during which he was of the world’s premier white-ball allrounders

ESPNcricinfo staff03-Nov-2020Shane Watson has announced his retirement from all cricket, bringing an end to a nearly 20-year career during which he was of the world’s premier white-ball allrounders. Watson had already retired from international cricket in March 2016, and had only been playing in overseas T20 leagues since his retirement from the Big Bash League (BBL) last year.Now he has confirmed that the IPL game between the Chennai Super Kings and the Kolkata Knight Riders in Dubai on October 29 was his last game at senior level. Watson made 14 to close out a season in which he scored 299 runs for the Super Kings at an average of 29.90 and a strike rate of 121.05.”It all started out as a dream, as a young kid, saying to my mum as I watched a Test match as a five-year-old, ‘I wanna play cricket for Australia.’ And now as I officially announce my retirement from all cricket, I feel crazily lucky to have lived out my dream, and then some,” Watson said on his YouTube channel . “It really does feel like the right time. Knowing that I’ve played my last game of cricket, ever, for my beloved CSK, who’ve been so incredibly good to me over the last three years. To think that I’m finishing up my playing days as a 39-year-old after all of my injury setbacks that I’ve had along the way, I feel so ridiculously fortunate.”Shane Watson clips one to fine-leg•BCCI

Watson’s international record is immense. He is somewhat underrated as a Test cricketer given an excellent record for an allrounder who often opened the batting: 3731 runs at 35.19, including four hundreds, and 75 wickets at 33.68, including three five-wicket hauls.But it’s as a white-ball cricketer that he’ll be best remembered. In ODIs, he scored 5757 runs at 40.54 and a strike rate of 90.44, and made nine hundreds, in addition to taking 168 wickets at 31.79. He was part of two World-Cup winning Australia sides, in 2007 and 2015, and was a powerhouse performer in the Champions Trophy, winning the Player-of-the-Match award in the finals of both the 2006 and 2009 tournaments.In T20Is he made 1462 runs at a strike rate of 145.32, and took 48 wickets while maintaining an economy rate of 7.65. He was the Player of the Series in the 2012 World T20 in Sri Lanka, where he topped the run charts with 249 at a strike rate of 150.00, and finished second on the wickets charts with 11, while conceding 7.33 runs per over. He remains one of only eight allrounders to have achieved the double of 10,000 runs and 250 wickets across the three international formats, which is a remarkable achievement given that his career was often interrupted by injuries that, over time, brought down his bowling workload considerably.Watson has been a mainstay in T20 leagues around the world ever since winning the Player of the Tournament award in the inaugural IPL season in 2008, when his all-round contributions – 472 runs at a strike rate of 151.76, and 17 wickets and an economy rate of 7.07 – powered the Rajasthan Royals to the title. After playing 78 games for the Royals from 2008 to 2015, he played for the Royal Challengers Bangalore for two seasons before being signed up by the Chennai Super Kings in 2018.He ended that season with one of the most famous innings of his franchise career, an unbeaten 57-ball 117 that helped the Super Kings cruise through a chase of 179 and win their third IPL title.Apart from the BBL and the IPL, Watson has also been a regular presence in the Pakistan Super League, the Bangladesh Premier League and the Caribbean Premier League.

India’s openers performed far better against Zimbabwe than they did against West Indies, setting up a platform for a match-winning total

The Report by George Binoy in Townsville14-Aug-2012
ScorecardKamal Passi’s all-round show was one of the highlights of India’s win•ICC/Getty

India’s openers performed far better against Zimbabwe than they did against West Indies, setting up a platform for a match-winning score despite a middle-order slowdown at Tony Ireland Stadium. In a match they had to win to stay in theUnder-19 World Cup, Unmukt Chand and Prashant Chopra delivered a 139-run partnership, and a last-over thrash from medium-pacer Kamal Passi converted an average total into a competitive one.Passi carried the momentum from his five-ball 24 through the lunch break and into his bowling, taking the first four wickets to fall during a six-over spell thatseverely set back the Zimbabwe chase. At 30 for 4 in the 12th over, there was too much lost ground to recover, and although allrounder Malcolm Lake scored a century that gave India a scare, he had no support and Zimbabwe were dismissed 63 runs short. Passi returned to take two important wickets during the final ten overs, finishing with 6 for 23.India made two changes to their XI from after the loss to West Indies. Left-arm spinner Harmeet Singh was unwell and medium-pacer Rush Kalaria was left out. Their spots went to Passi and Ravikant Singh, the third seam bowler. Chand lost the toss once again and Zimbabwe chose to bowl on a fresh pitch, the one closest to the grandstand. It meant one square boundary was significantly shorter than the other.Zimbabwe’s new-ball bowlers, Kyle Bowie and Curthbert Musoko, didn’t have the pace to harry the India openers and they pitched too full too often. Chand was able to drive his first ball, from Bowie, to the cover boundary. Chopra began more slowly, getting his eye in before cutting a short ball from Musoko to the point fence.Unlike against Ronsford Beaton and the other West Indians, India’s openers were able to come on to the front foot, and were also given width when the length was short. The powerful drives and cuts began to flow and after ten overs, India were 56 for 0 with 12 fours, 11 on the off side, one on the leg. In the 11th, Chand upper cut Luke Jongwe, as soon as he came on to bowl, over the shorter point boundary. In the 20th, he hoisted Musoko on to the top of the grass banks beyond the wide long-on boundary to take India to 115 for 0.Both openers made half-centuries, Chand off 46 balls and Chopra off 70, and it wasn’t until Zimbabwe brought on their fourth bowler, Lake, that they got a breakthrough. Lake caught a skier off his own bowling after Chopra top-edged a pull against the short ball. Chand fell in the 30th over, lofting the legspinner Peacemore Zimwa to long-off, and India slowed down drastically after that.Lake continued to keep the batsmen in their crease with his length and Campbell Light, who was introduced only in the 40th over, dismissed three more batsmen with short balls. India were only 237 for 5 at the start of the final over, for which Musoko replaced Light, and lost Vijay Zol to its first ball.Passi took guard and then began to swing at everything. He made good contact too. The ball disappeared to the midwicket and fine-leg boundary repeatedly and that flourish brought 24 runs.Forty-five minutes later, Passi was in action again. He got Kevin Kasuza to edge a short ball to the wicketkeeper, bowled Massasire with a full one that swung, had Matthew Bentley caught behind with a bouncer, and Ryan Burl pulling to the man at deep midwicket. His first spell was 7-1-15-4.After Passi left centre stage, Lake occupied it, single-handedly reviving a cause that was almost lost by the 14th over. A left-hand batsman, Lake stayed firm at one end, adding 87 runs for the fifth wicket, with Luke Jongwe, to give Zimbabwe hope. Jongwe was run out in the 32nd over, though, and Lake sat on his haunches in disappointment. He stepped it up after that, hitting four fours and two sixes in the 36th and 37th overs. Sandeep Sharma, however, bounced back from that beating by dismissing Mayavo in a two-run over, leaving Zimbabwe needing 94 in 12 overs with three wickets left.As he began to run out of partners, Lake tried to farm the strike as well, but the task ahead of him was too much for one person. Passi, in the first over of his second spell, trapped Bowie lbw for a first-ball duck, and in his next had Lake caught at cover. The two best performers from each team had the final say in the game.

Driven by a blistering century from Charlotte Edwards, England Women cruised to a 59-run win against New Zealand Women in Lincoln, sealing the three-match one-day series 2-0 in the process

ESPNcricinfo staff03-Mar-2012
ScorecardCharlotte Edwards struck 20 fours in her unbeaten ton•Getty Images

Driven by a blistering century from Charlotte Edwards, England Women cruised to a 59-run win against New Zealand Women in Lincoln, sealing the three-match one-day series 2-0 in the process. Edwards, the captain, picked up on her fine form from the previous match, stroking 137 not out from 88 balls in the rain-hit match that was reduced to 26 overs a side.England’s total was built around two substantial partnerships – the first was a 98-run stand between Edwards and Sarah Taylor for the second wicket that came at nine-and-a-half runs an over, followed by a 47-run fourth-wicket partnership, complied at over 10 an over. Such was Edwards dominance, that Lydia Greenway contributed but nine runs to the latter stand.Chasing an imposing revised target of 224, a target that required them to score at 8.62 runs an over, New Zealand cracked. Five of their top six got into double figures, but only Amy Satterthwaite could manage a half-century, top scoring with 69 as the hosts folded for 164. New-ball bowlers Anya Shrubsole was the most effective of England’s bowlers, claiming 3 for 28.”We went out there with a mindset of Twenty20 cricket and it paid off,” Edwards said after the match. “It was great to contribute myself. I feel I’m in the form of my life.”It’s a great wicket here, so we went out and got stuck in and to get 219 was a fantastic effort. We knew that would always put New Zealand under pressure. We bowled and fielded well on a good pitch. It was difficult conditions in the wind and it was cold, but the bowlers bowled well with Anya up front.”The final match of the series will be played at the same venue on March 5.