Heather Knight scores 101 as England complete record ODI chase of 245 to take unassailable 3-1 lead in series with just one match to play; fit-again Anya Shrubsole and youngster Charlie Dean impress with the ball; watch final ODI from 10.30am on Sunday on Sky Sports Cricket and YouTube
Friday 24 September 2021 07:46, UK
Heather Knight's sparkling 101 ushered England to a series-sealing, three-wicket victory over New Zealand with three balls to spare as they completed their highest-ever ODI run chase.
Captain Knight put on 100 with Amy Jones (40) for the fourth wicket and then 52 with Danni Wyatt (27) for the sixth as England rallied from being 71-3 and 185-5 to reach their target of 245 midway through the 50th over.
Knight and Wyatt fell in the penultimate over, leaving England needing six from the final six balls, but they crept over the line as Anya Shrubsole biffed Leigh Kasperek for four and then took a single and they claimed the-match winning run when Sophie Ecclestone was stumped off a wide.
The successful chase topped the 243-1 England had scored against New Zealand in Lincoln in 2008 and took them into an unassailable 3-1 lead in the series with one match to play, in Canterbury on Sunday.
Knight initially struggled to score but found her poise as her innings progressed against a White Ferns attack missing the rested Lea Tahuhu, who had bagged five wickets in the tourists' win in Tuesday's third ODI.
The England skipper struck 10 fours as she notched her second ODI century, a milestone she had missed out on in game one of this series after falling for 89 during a 30-run victory in Bristol.
Lauren Winfield-Hill (33), playing her 50th ODI, put on 52 with Tammy Beaumont for England's opening wicket, only for New Zealand seamer Hannah Rowe (4-47) to dismiss both set batters as well as Nat Sciver (11).
New Zealand had earlier carded 244-8 after recovering from 33-3, with Katey Martin (65no) hitting a first ODI fifty since 2017 and Amy Satterthwaite (54) her second of the series.
Shrubsole (2-43) did some of the early damage on her return to the side from an ankle injury but did not partner Katherine Brunt, with the latter rested despite starring in defeat on Tuesday with 4-22 and 49 not out.
Off-spinner Charlie Dean (3-52) continued her fine start to international cricket - the 20-year-old now up to nine wickets in four matches - while seamer Freya Davies took 2-46, having been recalled alongside Shrubsole and Sciver with Brunt, Kate Cross and Tash Farrant rotated out.
Satterthwaite initially rallied New Zealand alongside skipper Sophie Devine (41), with the pair putting on 56 for the fourth wicket before the latter was pinned lbw on the back foot by Dean.
Martin - who had reached double figures just once in six previous T20I or ODI innings on this tour - added 84 with Satterthwaite for the fifth wicket and then completed her half-century shortly after Satterthwaite was bowled around her legs by Dean.
Martin would have been out lbw to Dean for just four had England opted for the review, while she was also dropped in the forties by Knight off Dean at cover before wicketkeeper Jones fluffed a stumping chance on 57 off Davies in a less-than-stellar fielding display from the home team.
Brooke Halliday (28 off 19) played an enterprising cameo and after she was out to Dean, Rowe biffed 15 from 14 balls.
A score over 200 did not look likely after New Zealand had lost three wickets for nine runs from 24-0, with Suzie Bates (17) run out by Sciver and Shrubsole having Maddy Green caught tamely at mid-on for a duck before bowling Lauren Down (11) with a beauty that cut back to hit off stump.
England started their chase confidently but were rocked by three wickets for 19 runs, starting when Winfield-Hill was caught on the crease and bowled by Rowe's excellent nip-backer as the batter's wait for a first ODI fifty since November 2016 continued.
Rowe went on to have Beaumont caught down the leg-side and Sciver lbw .
England rebounded from that clutch of wickets but shortly after Knight and Jones' century partnership was cemented, the latter needlessly skied Rowe to mid-off before Sophia Dunkley was out lbw to Satterthwaite for a duck.
Any hopes New Zealand had of forcing a decider appeared to be dashed by Knight and Wyatt but when they fell to Devine, caught in the deep and lbw respectively, it led to a dramatic finale.
Watch the fifth and final ODI between England and New Zealand, at Canterbury, live from 10.30am on Sunday on Sky Sports Cricket and the Sky Sports Cricket YouTube channel.
