There were games of frisbee on Hove seafront that were more competitive than this match, but England will not care about the one-sided nature of their crushing win over New Zealand.
A bank holiday Monday crowd was left with plenty of time to fill as the third T20 finished with six overs to spare with England cruising to victory by seven wickets, thus sealing this T20 series 2-1 and handing their World Cup hopes a boost.
The contest was over when England took five wickets for four runs, New Zealand losing the heart of their batting as they slumped from 29 for one to 33 for six in a series decider. The WinViz calculator was at 98 percent for England at that point and the needle didn’t really shift that much. New Zealand limped to the final over of the innings, but were all out for 80 after opting to bat first on a decent pitch with a rapid outfield in gloriously sunny batting conditions.
It was a day when every catch went to hand and England just had to keep it tight and wait for the mistakes. They bowled superbly and their catching and ground fielding were sharp, both good omens for the World Cup and areas of their game that have cost them badly in the past.
This was not a full-strength England, either, with Lauren Bell rested and Danni Wyatt-Hodge missing the series for the birth of her first child and Nat Sciver-Brunt recovering from a calf injury. A stiffer test awaits in the series against India, which starts at Chelmsford on Thursday, but confidence should be building after an efficient, polished win.
It was encouraging for England that they bounced back from Canterbury where New Zealand recovered from 11 for four to win the game.
New Zealand just could not find any rhythm with the bat and England’s professional, relentless bowling wore them down, with the spinners sharing six for 39. Linsey Smith was again excellent with the new ball, her slow left arm priceless in the powerplay, and she followed her three for 25 at Canterbury on Saturday with two for 15 to give England early control.
Sophie Ecclestone strangled the scoring, and Dani Gibson removed the big wicket of Sophie Devine in her career-best three for 14. Charlie Dean, with three for 13 rounded off the innings, as every move paid off for England.
“That was a brilliant win for the girls today, it definitely makes my job easier when we pick up early wickets,” Dean, the stand-in captain, said. “We learnt from that Canterbury game to be ruthless The seam bowling all-rounders bring so much. To have that in the squad it really balances our team. The girls are really chuffed to be contributing.”
If you were being picky, England could have rammed home their advantage and rattled off a quicker win with the bat, the kind that massively boosts net run rate in World Cup group games and can prove pivotal when margins are tight. But at this stage of the reboot under Charlotte Edwards, it is about winning, especially without the experience of Wyatt-Hodge and Sciver-Brunt in the side and against defending World Cup champions.
The batting was slow-paced and a bit limp to match a hot, humid day made for an ice cream rather than rushing life. Maia Bouchier ground out 19 off 29 to anchor the win, but managed just one boundary in her innings and the only real aggression came from Sophia Dunkley with four fours, but she fell for 21 just as she was finding her touch. Heather Knight is searching for a bit of form and others could do with time in the middle. Those issues need to be addressed. The India series offers another opportunity to oil the machine before the World Cup starts for England against Sri Lanka at Edgbaston on June 12.