At the halfway point of the fourth T20 at Wellington, the cameras zoomed in on New Zealand captain Sophie Devine, sitting away from the action, nursing a freshly-inflicted quad injury. Her gloomy face told a thousand stories: she knew, as we all did, that – with England having put 177 on the board – the game was as good as over before New Zealand even faced a ball.
All of the talk ahead of this game had been about the return of England’s four WPL superstars, but Maia Bouchier completely stole the show with a smart, powerful innings of 91 off 56 balls – her highest ever score in T20 cricket – after Jon Lewis wisely chose to promote her to the opening spot in place of Sophia Dunkley. You can’t say she hasn’t earned it.
New Zealand should have come into this match full of confidence after England’s messy collapse handed them the third T20 on a plate, but they didn’t field like it. Five balls in, Bouchier (on 1*) edged Rosemary Mair through slip: oddly, Devine ducked out of the way, seemingly assuming that keeper Izzy Gaze would dive for it – it wasn’t clear if Gaze had called for it or if Devine just misjudged it?
Bouchier was put down twice more, on 31* and 44* – a missed caught and bowled from Jess Kerr followed what we might term an anti-double-play by Gaze, in which she first fumbled Bouchier’s edge and then missed a stumping chance, off the same delivery. Gaze is still young (just 19 years old) so this might sound a bit harsh… but if she is going to be New Zealand’s wicketkeeper of choice, they just can’t afford for her to be that much of a liability when she is stood up to the stumps.
Bouchier took full advantage, going on to hit 12 fours and two sixes in an innings which could have been tailor-made to promote NZC’s Poi initiative – plenty of Poi Whiua (twirl your poi and cheer) going on in the crowd.
England’s post-powerplay consistency was remarkable – only one over after the six-over mark went for less than 8. (That was the 14th, the only one bowled by Suzie Bates, who followed up her magical death over in the last game by being NZ’s most economical bowler in this match, which does rather beg the question as to why she doesn’t bowl more these days?)
Perhaps surprisingly after such a good WPL, Alice Capsey struggled for fluency, but to her credit recognised this and ran hard, in order to give the strike to Bouchier as much as possible. Then, after Bouchier was dismissed in the 18th, Heather Knight and Nat Sciver-Brunt upped the pace even more, with a partnership of 35 off 14 and an enormous 18-run final over.
In reply, New Zealand were actually ahead of England at the end of the powerplay, with 47 runs to England’s 35. But with both Bates and Melie Kerr already back in the dugout, and Devine unable to bat, you couldn’t help but feel that it was only a matter of time. There was a strong feeling of deja vu from the first match of the series: as soon as the field went out, New Zealand just couldn’t find the necessary boundary options to keep up with the required rate.
In the end, the only question was whether or not they would get bowled out. It was a fate they managed to avoid, finishing 7 down – but with England winning the match by a huge 47 runs, and with it the series, it will be scant consolation.
CRICKETher 
Wonder if the poor White Ferns fielding is a symptom of unhappiness in the camp? They dont look to be having much fun, this was notable even when the Pakistan team were in NZ earlier in summer (the Pakistan team by contrast looked like they were loving playing for their country).
Perhaps that unhappiness comes from the selection decisions that are being made – and who is making them.
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And no idea what the obsession with Gaze is. She is the worst wicket-keeper across all the domestic teams with gloves and bat, and Bezuidenhout was standing *right there* ready to take the gloves – which would allow another batter or a *slow* bowling option
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