New Zealand women captain Sophie Devine was disappointed with the way they finished their batting innings against South Africa at the Seddon Park, Hamilton in the 16th match of the ongoing ICC Women World Cup 2022 on Thursday.
The White Ferns were skittled out for 228 runs in 47.5 overafter Devine won the toss and decided to bat first.
In fact, at one stage it looked like New Zealand will easily go past the 260-run mark but they could not finish the innings on a high. Devine played a captain’s knock as she scored 93 runs from 101 balls whereas Amelia Kerr scored 42 runs. Maddy Green scored 30 runs for New Zealand but the lower middle-order failed to add the finishing touches.
Shabnim Ismail and Ayabonga Khaka scalped three wickets each for the Proteas whereas Marizanne Kapp continued her rich form as she snared two wickets.
Devine feels one of the top four-five batters must bat all the way for the team to help them finish their innings on the high. NZ skipper heaped praise on Amelia Kerr as she scalped three wickets and got her team back in the contest.
Sophie Devine said in the post-match presentation, “I thought Amelia Kerr was outstanding. She drew energy and we know she is a real impact player, she picked up those two wickets and shifted the momentum. We just kept crawling back in, cricket’s a funny game and we have seen in this tournament games are going to the wire. We spoke about keeping out their strike bowlers and get off to a good start, we did that in their first spell but disappointed with the way we finished. Someone from the top 4-5 should have been there till the end. If a set batter is there, we are getting 280. We were probably too wide with our line. It is a learning curve for us executing with the ball but also how to set fields. There are million different things we can pick out in that game and do differently but at the end of the day credit has to go to South Africa. We have to move forward pretty quickly. We play England on Sunday and it is going to be a cracker of a game. They will be hurting as well and it is nice to see so many teams vying for the four spots.”
This was New Zealand’s third loss of the ongoing tourney and they will look to bounce back stronger in their upcoming matches. New Zealand will next face England women at Eden Park, Auckland on Sunday.
