England A overpowered the visitors as New Zealand taste yet another defeat this year. Though this is an unofficial one-day game, the loss puts the team a step backward even before the beginning of the international matches.
White Ferns batted first, and their star batter Suzie Bates opened the innings along with Hayley Jensen. The latter didn’t last long as she got out for a first-ball duck.
Bates, who is playing her first match for New Zealand in almost a year, kept losing partners at the other end. She slowly made 70. The next top scorer on the team was her Otago teammate Katey Martin. The wicket-keeper played well for her 52 and took the team to 223.
For England A, Langston, Smith, Davidson-Richards, Jones had a couple of wickets each.
In return, the skipper Smith played an aggressive hand to score 53. On the other hand, Scrivens had 39 runs. The cameos from Dean and Dattani helped Davidson-Richards to showcase her skills. She made 43* from 60.
In the end, the team chased the target with ease within 48 overs. The White Ferns used nine bowlers and the most successful was Satterthwaite and Rowe. Both had a couple of wickets each while Kasperek gave away just nine runs from five overs.
