Beaumont made 97 from 65 balls as England posted 184-4 from their 20 overs; Katherine Brunt, Sophie Ecclestone and Sarah Glenn claimed two wickets apiece to wrap up a dominant display
Thursday 2 September 2021 07:01, UK
Tammy Beaumont produced a sensational innings to inspire England to an emphatic 46-run victory over New Zealand in the first T20 international at Chelmsford.
Beaumont struck a brilliant 97 from 65 balls to guide England to a formidable total of 184-4, as the White Ferns endured a chastening evening in their first competitive outing since April.
Beaumont capitalised on a profligate fielding display from the visitors, while Amy Jones (31 off 15) and Sophia Dunkley (23 no) played valuable cameos as England posted their highest T20 score against New Zealand.
The hosts, who handed a debut to Thunder's Emma Lamb after captain Heather Knight was ruled out with a hamstring injury, denied New Zealand the opportunity to inject any momentum into their run chase, bowling the visitors out for 138 in the 19th over.
England had won nine of their previous 10 outings at fortress Chelmsford, and Beaumont and Danni Wyatt made a blistering start in front of a sell-out crowd, racing to 33-0 inside the third over.
Having dispatched Leigh Kasperek (1-54) for three consecutive boundaries, Wyatt (14 off 8) was eventually deceived by a 41mph delivery, while stand-in skipper Nat Sciver (14 off 16) was subdued by her explosive standards, succumbing to Hayley Jensen (2-26) in the 10th over.
The game was evenly poised with the hosts 74-2 at the halfway stage, but Beaumont and Amy Jones ran riot in a remarkable passage of play - registering 36 runs in two overs to put a beleaguered New Zealand attack to the sword.
Jones displayed tremendous innovation in her enterprising 15-ball knock, while Beaumont unleashed a series of glorious strokes over extra cover, with the pair compiling a third-wicket stand of 53 from just 25 deliveries.
Jones' dismissal did little to stifle England's momentum, as Sophia Dunkley (23 no) provided an effective foil for the irrepressible Beaumont, who continued to find the boundary with consummate ease, only to fall agonisingly short of her century in the penultimate ball of the innings.
If New Zealand harboured any aspirations of completing a record run chase, they required fireworks from the decorated duo of Suzie Bates and captain Sophie Devine, and that did not materialise.
Tash Farrant (1-24) marked her return to the international stage by trapping Devine (2) lbw to complete a wicket-maiden in her first over, before Katherine Brunt (2-9) clean bowled Bates (1) to leave the visitors floundering at 4-2 in the third.
The third-wicket partnership between Amy Satterthwaite (43) and Maddy Green (19) showed promise, until an outstanding catch from Farrant accounted for Green.
New Zealand continued to lose wickets at regular intervals as England's spin duo of Sarah Glenn (2-24) and Mady Villiers (1-17) opened their accounts, before Villiers took an excellent diving catch off Brunt to dismiss Satterthwaite seven runs short of her half-century.
The White Ferns were in danger of being blown away at 82-6, although their lower order provided spirited resistance, with Jensen (16), Thamsyn Newton (14), Jess Kerr (12 no) and Hannah Rowe (11) all reaching double figures.
This simply delayed the inevitable, however, as Sciver (1-31) and Sophie Ecclestone (2-24) struck in the closing stages to complete a comprehensive evening's work for England.
Nat Sciver: "We've played a lot of cricket over the last three months as a side and I think it showed. There is room for improvement but I think today showed we've been on the park quite a lot.
"The consistency of areas we hit with the ball, that was a little bit lacking but we were clinical and managed to bowl them out so you can't get too upset.
"We were pretty special with the bat - Tammy obviously was so close to that hundred but I'm sure she'll get there again. I think she likes batting to heavy metal so we've asked the band to come down to Hove [for the next T20I]!"
Sophie Devine: "I think we leaked too many runs and the fielding obviously didn't help, when I dropped two catches!
"But credit has got to go to Tammy Beaumont, she batted magnificently and probably got away from us. I thought Hayley Jensen was outstanding with the ball.
"England have come off a full summer of playing cricket and there's only so much training and warm-up you can do before you get out in the middle."
Watch the second T20 international between England and New Zealand, at Hove, live on Sky Sports Cricket from 6:45pm on Saturday.
