Toothless England left with a monster task to lift the World Cup

New Zealand (141/4 from 24.4 overs) beat England (181/7 from 33 overs) by 17 runs (DLS method)

• Kiwi legend signs off with a win.

• Soon to retire star Bates ends her ODI career with DLS win at Cardiff.

• New Zealand draw the series 1-1.

• England underwhelming despite impressive bowling from Bell.

• Capsey top-scores with 45 before giving wicket away

• Player of the series Maddy Green steers New Zealand safely ahead of DLS

• Rain brings a premature end to the game after an on-off day in Cardiff.

  
  

Arriving at Cardiff railway station this morning, one was greeted by the full match day security. Barriers funnelled the eager crowd, mainly constituted of parents with excited young children towards the ticket inspectors, strategically hovering a hundred yards away, waiting to cheerily greet all and sundry to Cardiff and direct them towards the stadium where today’s eagerly anticipated event was happening.

Do I mean the final ODI between England Women and New Zealand Women at Sophia Gardens? Alas, no. 

Surely, therefore, there was a big rugby game on in the city? Surprisingly, no.

The reality is that as Cardiff’s cricket stadium was preparing to welcome fewer than 1000 spectators to the farewell ODI of a Kiwi legend, 40,000 spectators were gathering a few hundred yards away to watch some Monster Trucks. If anything summed up the challenges that cricket faces, it is surely this. In a World Cup year, where the reigning T20 champions were playing England, there was little interest from the local population. And England, tasked with halting the cricketing juggernauts of Australia and India later in the summer, are currently being flattened and crushed by teams below the upper echelons of world cricket.

At Sophia Gardens, the modern, smart, yet characterless home of Glamorgan, it was a slow start to the day. Persistent drizzle delayed the start for an hour. When the captains emerged, it was New Zealand who won the toss and invited England to bat. The game was scheduled to last the full 50 overs at this point, but all present were aware that this was unlikely to be the case and a day of playing through drizzle and nipping on and off to shelter from downpours was the more likely scenario.

On the field, England openers Lamb and Grewcock were having to be very cautious, as Jess Kerr and Bree Illing were troubling them with swing and movement off the pitch, as the Kiwis showed great intent to level the series after their narrow defeat at Chester-le-Street last weekend and an abandonment at Northampton on Wednesday.

Lamb was first to go, edging a ball from the dangerous Illing to Izzy Gaze behind the stumps. Grewcock and new batter Heather Knight survived the powerplay together, Knight at times imperious, but never fully secure in bowler-friendly conditions.

Grewcock, curiously continuing to play for England out of position, survived until the 11^th over without ever looking like the accomplished performer she is for Essex. She finally succumbed to the bowling of Rosemary Mair, who found her outside edge to provide the grateful Izzy Gaze with her second catch of the day. Her third victim was soon to follow as Knight sheepishly stood her ground when given not out to a ball from Illing which, on closer inspection from the third umpire, most certainly took the edge of her bat.

England, with their top three back in the pavilion after 15 overs, needed a stable partnership, and with rain threatening, also needed to up their run rate in the knowledge that they were unlikely to be batting for 50 overs. After 17 overs, with the score on 77/3, the long-anticipated rain arrived, delaying the game for a further two and a half hours and reducing the game to 33 overs per side.

Alice Capsey, who might still be the promising future of English cricket, has had a sketchy and disappointing ODI career so far. One half century in 26 innings, a strike rate of 76 and an average of 20 is not good enough, but doesn’t tell the whole story, as she has often been batting at number 7 and been given little opportunity to build innings of substance. Her innings in October’s World Cup semi-final, batting at number 5 yet having to face the 8^th ball of England’s innings, indicated that when given the opportunity she could be a success in this format. 

Today, after the rain break, there was a similar opportunity, and Capsey showed some of her best aspects: well judged shots, spritely running between the wickets and the occasional boundary powered through the ring of fielders. She also concluded her innings by showing her not-so-best side, throwing her wicket away with a badly-judged shot when a half century was within her grasp, and only four balls after Freya Kemp, with whom she shared a partnership of 57 runs, had been well caught running in at long on by Rosemary Mair.

It remains to be seen whether Charlotte Edwards can squeeze the full potential out of this rather frustrating cricketer.

A rapid cameo of 27 by Amy Jones and a run-a-ball 16 from Charlie Dean got England to a defendable but distinctly under-par 181/7, with the mystical wizardry of Duckworth, Lewis and Stern determining that New Zealand should chase 184 in their 33 overs.

Enter Suzannah Wilson Bates, a woman whose impact and influence on women’s cricket both in New Zealand and around the world cannot be exaggerated. Today was her 184^th and final ODI, 20 years and 74 days after her first one. She needed 30 more runs to become the 3^rd woman in history to reach 6000 in the format. She needed 23 runs to overtake Charlotte Edwards’ total and overtake her as number 3 on the list of top ODI scorers. That she fell short of these targets today matters not.

She played today as she played her whole career – with a smile on her face, with dignity and in the right spirit. It’s just a shame that England did not make any on field gesture to mark this occasion, as opponents of this significance do not come around very often and a guard of honour would have been a very appropriate way to honour her and celebrate her achievements.

Bates was one of three lbw victims trapped by Lauren Bell in a devastating opening spell, which left New Zealand reeling on 40/3 after 6.1 overs. At this point it appeared that England’s bowling prowess would overwhelm the Kiwis, with Bell and Filer hooping the ball around in failing light and drizzly rain. It would have been no surprise to see them capitulate. The fact that they didn’t capitulate, and little by little began to take control of the game was due to the efforts of Maddy Green, who has experienced an amazing resurgence of her career over recent months, and Brook Halliday, the more than handy left hander.

As England’s bowlers struggle with the wet ball, Sophie Ecclestone particularly looking out of sorts, Green and Halliday played their shots, finding the occasional boundary, until at the 17 over drinks break, New Zealand found themselves ahead of the DLS, with three overs needing to be bowled for a result to be possible.

The departure of Green, bowled by Gibson just after the drinks break, gave England hope, but it was a false hope, as Izzy Gaze joined Halliday to see New Zealand over the 20 over mark and continually extended their DLS lead as the brooding black clouds gathered ever more fiercely overhead.

In the 25^th over the heavens opened and the umpires led the players off with New Zealand on 141/4. A few minutes later the match was ended and New Zealand were deservedly declared the winners.

And so these two teams, together with 10 of the other top teams in the world, turn their attention to the T20 World Cup, beginning in less than four weeks. For New Zealand, reigning champions and ”drawn” in England’s group, they must be confident of qualifying for the semi-finals after producing performances of character like today.

For England, it is becoming ever more apparent that their chances of lifting the trophy are slim. Not impossible, but flaws in all departments are constantly undermining them – an inability of their top order to produce the sort of platforms that win games, the tendency to crumble under pressure, the tendency to allow opponents off the hook when England have taken early wickets, giving away too many extras, set batters losing concentration and giving their wickets away. 

It’s a long list.