Key events
18th over: New Zealand 125-5 (Green 23, Sharp 21) Much better from New Zealand, with Sharp making room to thump Dean over midwicket for six. Green blasts a full toss for a one-bounce four to complete a good over for New Zealand; Dean finishes with figures of 4-0-29-2.
17th over: New Zealand 112-5 (Green 18, Sharp 13) Kemp bowls another boundaryless over, which suits England just fine at this stage. New Zealand have hit only one four in the last five overs.
16th over: New Zealand 107-5 (Green 16, Sharp 10) New Zealand continue to go after Ecclestone, with Sharp pull/sweeping four more. Ecclestone’s figures are 3-0-34-0.
15th over: New Zealand 98-5 (Green 14, Sharp 3) An excellent over from Gibson, bowling wicket to wicket, costs only three runs. England have taken control of the game since the dismissal of Devine.
14th over: New Zealand 95-5 (Green 13, Sharp 1) Izzy Sharp is the new batter.
WICKET! New Zealand 94-5 (Halliday c Boucher b Dean 14)
Another one gone. Halliday lifts Dean down the ground, doesn’t get enough on it and is beautifully caught on the run by Bouchier. England’s fielding has been good tonight.
13th over: New Zealand 93-4 (Halliday 14, Green 12) Green makes room to steer Bell expertly between backward point and short third for a boundary. New Zealand no longer have the intimidating power of Devine but they are inching towards a competitive score.
12th over: New Zealand 87-4 (Halliday 13, Green 7) Another rapid and thrifty over from Smith, who has outstanding figures of 3-1-5-1.
11th over: New Zealand 84-4 (Halliday 11, Green 6) With Devine gone, Sophie Ecclestone is brought back into the attack. Maddy Green reverse sweeps classily for the only boundary of the over.
10th over: New Zealand 77-4 (Halliday 8, Green 1) Halliday reverse sweeps Dean nicely for four. New Zealand still have plenty of batting, including Suzie Bates at No8, so they can’t afford to keep playing aggressively.
9th over: New Zealand 70-4 (Halliday 3, Green 0) That was the last ball of the over.
WICKET! New Zealand 70-4 (Devine b Gibson 45)
Well bowled Dani Gibson! Devine is bowled by a slower ball that snakes under the bat and kisses the off bail. Amy Jones wasn’t sure whether she had disturbed the stumps herself, but replays confirmed it was out. Devine goes for a thrilling 22-ball 45.
8th over: New Zealand 63-3 (Devine 40, Halliday 1) Brooke Halliday takes a single off her first ball, which allows Devine to blast another comically emphatic slog-sweep for six. She’s peppering the short legside boundary at that end.
WICKET! New Zealand 56-3 (Gaze b Dean 12)
Terrific bowling from Charlie Dean. She started with three dot balls to Gaze, who succumbed to the growing pressure. She charged the fourth delivery, missed a hack across the line and was bowled.
7th over: New Zealand 56-2 (Gaze 12, Devine 34) The left-arm seamer Freya Kemp comes on for Gibson. Devine hits her for consecutive fours, a tuck off the hip and a blast down the ground that just evaded the diving Gibson at long-on. Gibson may have got a touch but it was another extremely tough chance.
Devine, who looks in scarily good form, has raced to 34 from 17 balls.
Devine hits Ecclestone for three sixes in an over
6th over: New Zealand 45-2 (Gaze 10, Devine 25) Time for England’s best bowler, Sophie Ecclestone. And she’s still England’s best bowler despite disappearing for 18 in her first over. Sophie Devine slog-swept Ecclestone’s first ball for six, and then the third, and then the sixth! That’s outrageously good batting.
5th over: New Zealand 27-2 (Gaze 10, Devine 7) Dani Gibson, one of two seam-bowling allrounders in the team along with Freya Kemp, replaces Lauren Bell. She almost strikes second ball when Devine cuffs a short ball just wide of the diving Bell at mid-on. In fact it goes down as a dropped catch because Bell got a touch, but it was a seriously tough chance.
The ball runs away for four, and later in the over Gaze clatters a lower-risk boundary through extra cover.
4th over: New Zealand 16-2 (Gaze 5, Devine 1) Sophie Devine is in at No4. She misses a slog sweep and is hit on the pad; England enquire for LBW but that would have swung past leg stump.
WICKET! New Zealand 13-2 (M Kerr c Bell b Smith 8)
A big wicket for England. Melie Kerr tries to blast Linsey Smith over the top but doesn’t clear Lauren Bell, who takes an excellent running catch at mid-off.
3rd over: New Zealand 13-1 (Gaze 4, M Kerr 8) Gaze plays the first shot of authority, clouting a short ball from Bell through midwicket for four. She’s beaten by the next ball, then misses a premeditated ramp that is spilled by Jones for a bye.
That brings Kerr back on strike; she lifts Bell sweetly to deep backward square for a one-bounce four. A much better over for New Zealand.
2nd over: New Zealand 2-1 (Gaze 0, M Kerr 2) No surprise to see Linsey Smith share the new ball with her stump-threatening left-arm spin. It’s a fine first over, a maiden to Gaze that includes a couple of false strokes.
1st over: New Zealand 2-1 (Gaze 0, M Kerr 2) The New Zealand captain Melie Kerr clips her first ball through midwicket for a couple. But she’s beaten by the next two deliveries, the first after walking down the track.
It’s been a scruffy start form New Zealand, and Izzy Gaze is almost run out without facing off the last ball of the over. She was sent back by Kerr and was barely in the frame when Bouchier’s throw from backward point bounced past the stumps.
WICKET! New Zealand 0-1 (Plimmer b Bell 0)
Gone first ball! Georgia Plimmer, shaping to cut with an angled bat, drags Bell back onto the stumps to give England the perfect start.
England captain Charlie Dean flicks the ball to Lauren Bell, who will open the bowling. She’s the only specialist seamer in the team.
Team news
Alice Capsey opens for England in the absence of Danni Wyatt-Hodge, who is awaiting the birth of her first child. Maia Bouchier, who is not in the World Cup squad, takes Sciver-Brunt’s place at No3. There’s no place yet for Tilly Corteen-Coleman.
New Zealand make one change from their win over South Africa at Wellington in March: Bree Illing replaces Lea Tahuhu.
England Dunkley, Capsey, Bouchier, Knight, Kemp, Gibson, Jones (wk), Dean (c), Ecclestone, Smith, Bell.
New Zealand Plimmer, Gaze (wk), M Kerr (c), Devine, Halliday, Green, Sharp, Bates, J Kerr, Mair, Illing.
England win the toss and bowl
Charlie Dean says Nat Sciver-Brunt’s absence is “pretty precautionary” and that England aren’t worried. Oh, and that England would like to field first.
Melie Kerr says New Zealand would also have bowled.
There’s been a bit of rain in Derbs today but tonight’s forecast is good, so we should get a full game.
Daniel Gallan
Every cricket-loving parent will know the feeling. Not a feeling, exactly, more a tiny flicker of hope. A ridiculous, irrational hope that the gods who once reached down and gently kissed the likes of Sachin Tendulkar and Ellyse Perry might one day do the same to your little sprog.
You hold your breath the first time you wrap their chubby hands around a plastic bat. You start dreaming absurd dreams when you softly lob a tennis ball in their direction and they accidentally smoke one into the couch.
Maybe, despite all available evidence, despite the fact that you were, at best, a middling club cricketer with an exaggerated pull shot and a weakness against anything spinning away, maybe your child will be different.
In all likelihood they won’t become the next superstar. And that’s fine. Because what you’re really hoping for has little to do with fame or contracts or Test caps. What you’re really hoping for is that they fall in love with the game.
Preamble
England haven’t played a T20 international in the last 10 months. Tonight’s match against the world champions New Zealand at Derby is the first of at least 11 T20s in the next six and a half weeks. England will hope it’s 13 games, because that would mean reaching the final of the upcoming T20 World Cup.
England Women have never failed to win a Women’s World Cup as hosts: 1973, 1993, 2009 and 2017. “No pressure, then!” joked their coach Charlotte Edwards when reminded of that particular statistic.
Before the tournament begins on 12 June, England have two three-match series against New Zealand and India. It’s a chance for Edwards to work out her World Cup team while also looking at alternative options such as Alice Capsey behind the stumps.
Edwards may finalise her best XI, but she won’t see it in action: the captain Nat Sciver-Brunt has been ruled out of both series with an increasingly worrying calf injury. Charlie Dean will deputise.
The match starts at 6.30pm BST.
