England Women Bounce Back With Stunning Victory
Claire Taylor: in the runs, with 111 of them in Lincoln.
©Action Images / Andrew Boyers
242-8 (Tsukigawa 73, Browne 45no)
England Women 244-1 (C Taylor 111no, Atkins 69no)
England won by nine wickets; series level at 1-1
After losing the first One Day International against New Zealand Women by 123 runs, England Women hit back in near-perfect style in the second match, scoring a comprehensive nine-wicket win in Lincoln.
Chasing a testing target of 243, an unbeaten century from Claire Taylor and a half-century from opener Caroline Atkins saw England pass that score with some five overs and two balls to spare.
Taylor scored 111 from 111 balls, 15 of which were sent to the boundary.
Atkins, replacing Beth Morgan at the top of the order, weighed in with 69 not out from 109 balls after Sarah Taylor had been bowled by Beth McNeill for 36.
Taylor's innings really put the White Ferns to the sword, after they themselves batted well and must have been confident of another victory at the halfway stage.
Their innings followed a similar pattern to the first match in that they lost early wickets before late order runs helped them back into contention.
Ros Kember (17), Aimee Mason (nought) and Sarah McGlashan (ten) were removed cheaply with Isa Guha, Katherine Brunt, and Nicola Shaw doing a fine job early on.
The rebuilding job was done by Haidee Tiffin, who hit 44, and Amy Satterthwaite, who scored a patient 27. They put on 53 for the fourth wicket before the next two wickets put on 64 and 53 thanks to innings of 73 from Sarah Tsukigawa and 45 from Nicola Browne, again at better than a run a ball.
Charlotte Edwards took two wickets at the death to prevent New Zealand from getting past 250 with Browne the unbeaten player.
There were also two wickets for Guha and Laura Marsh.
That left New Zealand in a comfortable position, but if their innings bore resemblances to the first match, England's couldn't have been more different, or less improved as they levelled the series with three to play in ruthless fashion.
The next match in the five-match series takes place on February 28th.
© Cricket World 2008
Cricket World.com – For all the latest women’s cricket news, reports, live scores; broadband radio and TV; free audio commentary; blogs and exclusive interviews
