Lea Tahuhu and Amelia Kerr took three wickets each as New Zealand crushed India by 62 runs at Seddon Park in the eighth match of ICC Womens Cricket World Cup, here on Thursday.
India, who had opted to bat second in the hope of dew aiding them, were all out for 198 in a chase where nothing went right for them, barring Harmanpreet Kaur’s 71.
Chasing 261, Frankie Mackay’s off-spin and pace from Jess Kerr kept India on a tight leash from the word go. The duo were bang-on with their line and length and didn’t offer Smriti Mandhana and Yastika Bhatia any width. Smriti, whose shots were mostly going to the fielders, tried to break the shackles off Jess in the sixth over.
But Jess, who came in from round the wicket, got Smriti to mistime a loft to cover. New Zealand’s relentless pursuit of building the dot-ball pressure as Deepti Sharma was trapped lbw on last ball of power-play off Lea Tahuhu. The on-field umpire gave it lbw but New Zealand took the review and got to reverse the decision in their favour.
Spinners Rajeshwari Gayakwad (2/46) and Deepti Sharma (1/52) claimed three wickets between them while veteran pacer Jhulan Goswami (1/41) accounted for one batter. For New Zealand, Satterthwaite (75 off 84) and Amelia Kerr (50 off 64) scored half-centuries, while Katey Martin pitched in with a valuable 41 to power the hosts to a 250 plus score.
Brief Scores: New Zealand 260/9 in 50 overs (Amy Satterthwaite 75, Amelia Kerr 50; Pooja Vastrakar 4/34, Rajeshwari Gayakwad 2/46) beat India 198 all out in 46.4 overs (Harmanpreet Kaur 71, Mithali Raj 31; Lea Tahuhu 3/17, Amelia Kerr 3/56) by 62 runs.
India Playing XI: Smriti Mandhana, Yastika Bhatia, Deepti Sharma, Mithali Raj (c), Harmanpreet Kaur, Richa Ghosh (wk), Sneh Rana, Pooja Vastrakar, Jhulan Goswami, Meghna Singh, Rajeshwari Gayakwad
New Zealand Playing XI: Sophie Devine (c), Suzie Bates, Amelia Kerr, Amy Satterthwaite, Maddy Green, Frances Mackay, Katey Martin (wk), Hayley Jensen, Lea Tahuhu, Jess Kerr, Hannah Rowe
Ms Kalinga