Photo Credit: ICC
Sophie Devine hailed a complete performance with bat and ball as New Zealand women secured an impressive 62-run win against India women.
Amy Satterthwaite hit an 84-ball 75 and Amelia Kerr weighed in with 50 as the White Ferns made 260 for nine in their innings, batting first.
Lea Tahuhu then took three for 17 from 10 miserly overs to stifle India’s batters, while Kerr also chipped in with three wickets as the hosts dismissed India for 198 to clinch their second ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2022 victory.
New Zealand have recovered nicely from their opening-day defeat to West Indies and Devine praised her side for having the mental strength to bounce back.
“It is an interesting one. The first game was a great game of cricket and took a lot of positives away,” she said.
“We would have liked to have won the game but weren’t at our best, tonight was a more complete performance and we just need to focus on the next game now.
“I think the way we batted and built partnerships throughout was outstanding. Amy and Amelia Kerr were great, I thought we were 20-30 runs short based on the platform we made but we knew it was a competitive score.
“Amy said we were competitive with 260 and the bowlers were outstanding, we didn’t give them anything.”
One of the key features of New Zealand’s campaign is the way different players have contributed. Against West Indies, Devine scored a century, while Suzie Bates starred in the nine-wicket win against Bangladesh before Satterthwaite and Kerr were impressive here.
And Devine was quick to point out how important that is as they now prepare for their next game against Australia on Sunday.
“One of our strengths from the India series previously was that different players stood up at different phases and that’s what we ask for at World Cups,” she added.
“It won’t always be your day, so it is nice to have the confidence that it will always be someone’s day. I’m proud.
“The bowlers were outstanding, we put a lot of pressure on them and Lea Tahuhu was outstanding. We need variety and options and we can be flexible.
“Lea bowled in the middle overs in the UK last year and did it really well. It is a great thing, we have so many options now. It means we are in a good space.”
The result marks India’s first defeat of the tournament and even though Harmanpreet Kaur made a brilliant 71 from 63 balls, they didn’t threaten to chase down the target.
Captain Mithali Raj admits batting is a concern and has urged the top order to find their form, with two of the top three falling for single figures in Hamilton as Shafali Verma was replaced at number two by Yastika Bhatia.
“I think we need to do better with the bat,” she said.
“The top order needs to fire because in this tournament, when you’re chasing 250 or 270, you need to score runs.
“Our bowlers have done well today but that is something we are working on for when we face West Indies [on Saturday].
“It was chaseable but we were losing wickets and keeping the run-rate low enough was tough. They put a lot of pressure on us because they knew we didn’t have a batter capable of taking the team through.
“I think there was bounce but it was a bit slow onto the bat. The New Zealand seamers were hitting the right areas but it wasn’t something that was unplayable and we could have done better.”
