New Zealand shared the series spoils – and the ICC Championship points – after winning the final one-day international at Cardiff on Saturday with six wickets in hand. Lauren Bell had initially reduced the tourists to 40 for three, before giving everyone a scare for next month’s World Cup when she toppled over in her follow-through and briefly left the field for treatment.
She returned to bowl the 26th over of New Zealand’s run-chase, but the umpires called a halt to proceedings shortly afterwards. By then, a combination of Maddy Green, Brooke Halliday and Izzy Gaze had batted together for long enough and with enough assertiveness to ensure New Zealand were well ahead on DLS to level the series 1-1.
This will be the only women’s international in Cardiff in 2026 – those in charge of Welsh cricket are reportedly fuming about being denied hosting rights for a World Cup that is, in name, an England and Wales affair but in reality isn’t.
It proved to be a frustrating day, with the start put back by an hour and a two-and-a-half-hour rain delay mid-afternoon.
At least, after Wednesday’s washout at Northampton, enough overs were possible to constitute a match and the permanent clouds looming overhead did wonders for the two swing bowlers, Jess Kerr and Bell. The 21-year-old Jodi Grewcock was tasked with facing Kerr’s opening spell and batted like a rabbit caught in the headlights. She was put down behind the stumps on nought before keeper Gaze finally snaffled her in the 11th over.
In reply, the top three New Zealand batters all fell leg-before to Bell. Strikingly, none of them opted for a DRS review, but this was a different New Zealand to the brittle side who failed to win a game on their last tour of England, in 2024: this time, their middle-order showed some backbone, fully aware that wickets could prove critical to falling behind the par score.
England had dragged themselves to 181 for seven either side of the lengthy rain delay as the fielders played slip-and-slide: Alice Capsey and Freya Kemp upped the tempo after the resumption, sharing a run-a-ball 50 partnership, while Amy Jones played a couple of gorgeous drives.
In a summer that is really all about T20 cricket, this game might have been seen by both sides as a bit of an irrelevance, were it not for the fact that this was the last hurrah for one of the true greats of 50-over cricket. The 38-year-old Suzie Bates has been playing ODIs for 20 years, has scored almost 6,000 runs in 184 matches and will retire after the World Cup.
Sometimes the great careers end with a whimper, not a bang: and so it was at Cardiff. Bates sent down two overs of the slow off-spin she has adopted since undergoing shoulder surgery in 2020 (she was once a decent medium pacer), failing to take a wicket; then showcased one on-drive for four and played all round a straight one from Bell, after adding 12 runs to her phenomenal career tally.
She received a standing ovation from the crowd, but for a player who has always been about team over self, the result will no doubt please her far more.
