England complete their own demolition in Derby

Jamie Ramage from Derby

Merited or not Derby has been christened ‘Derbados’ by those that love or hate the city in equal measure. A regular venue for England women they are used to a venue that still has the feel of the old racecourse that used to be on site. Today it oversaw another England victory over New Zealand by 123 runs led by Tammy Beaumont (63).

The two teams met on this ground almost a year to the day that they met in the group stages of the ICC World Cup. England won on that occasion as well. It was again Tammy Beaumont that was the player that held things together for England. On a difficult pitch, she looked the most fluent.

England started well, the partnership between Beaumont and Amy Jones is starting to look like it is set in stone. Again, Jones looked positive from the outset before being dismissed by Sophie Devine for 20.

Last year Beaumont and Nat Sciver were the bain of the New Zealand bowlers and that was proven again today. It was only 43 today, but it took the innings towards the end of their quota. Beaumont was lbw to Jess Watkin who along with Amelia Kerr ensured the batters were made to work for their runs. Beaumont top scored with 67 from 76 balls.

Sciver looks like she isn’t too far away from a big score and 54 on this pitch was worth much more to the team. England were bowled out for 241 with two overs still left. England may have worried that they were 20 runs short. New Zealand, after all, have some fine attacking batters.

Like so often before it would rely on their top order of Devine, Suzie Bates and Amy Satterthwaite. They also have some young players with a lot of promise as Kerr proved in Ireland. Katie George proved expensive, but Heather Knight kept her faith and in the next over she had Devine dismissed for 14, an easy catch to Jones.

George then bowled Satterthwaite in her next over that took the top of the off stump. The Next over Katherine Brunt had Katey Martin lbw. New Zealand were 36 for 3. They still had their captain Bates there. England took the pace off the ball and things suddenly became more difficult. Sophie Ecclestone and Laura Marsh bowled well in tandem and found plenty of spin. Marsh bowling Bates with one that spun into the New Zealander.

Wickets fell too regularly for New Zealand to salvage anything from the game and were eventually bowled out for 118. It bodes well for England that their two leading wicket-takers in the game were George with 3 for 36 and Ecclestone with 3 for 4.

The action moves along to Leicester for the final game of the series and don’t bet against England going hard from the start.