Cricket: England wins fourth ODI against White Ferns

File photo / Northern Advocate

England beat New Zealand by nine wickets to claim the fourth match and win the one-day international women's cricket series at Barnsley this morning (NZT).

The victory gave England an unassailable 3-1 lead with the fifth and final game to be played at Lords on Tuesday.

An outstanding bowling display kept the White Ferns to a modest 136 for nine after Aimee Watkins won the toss and elected to bat.

England coasted to victory with Heather Knight the only wicket to fall.

Coming together at 41 for one, Sarah Taylor (49 not out) and Claire Taylor (51 not out) put on an unbeaten second wicket stand of 98 to guide England to the comfortable win.

Earlier, spearhead Katherine Brunt snared three for 31, removing the dangerous Lucy Doolan and Suzie Bates early to set the tone for the match. New ball bowling partner Jenny Gunn and spinner Holly Colvin chimed in with two wickets each while Isa Guha went for just 11 runs off her ten overs.

Again, Watkins steadied the inning after the loss of early wickets, making a hard fought 42 but she played a lone hand with the next best contribution coming from opener Natalie Dodd who reached 22.

"The team is disappointed. We didn't bat well today albeit on a very difficult wicket and lost wickets regularly so we were about 30 runs short of a competitive score," New Zealand coach Gary Stead said.

"We bowled and fielded well but never had enough runs. We are looking forward to playing at Lord's where we should find a faster paced wicket.

"England have more game awareness than us - the gaps between the teams has closed in the series and we have improved since the Rose Bowl Series against Australia but we need to learn how to win the close moments in a match.

"England are able to sense when the moments are coming and win them. We have made some good progress but need to find greater consistency in all disciplines."

- NZPA