England's Anya Shrubsole celebrates after hitting the winning runs as White Ferns bowler Brooke Halliday can't look. Photo / Photosport
England's Anya Shrubsole celebrates after hitting the winning runs as White Ferns bowler Brooke Halliday can't look. Photo / Photosport
The White Ferns' dream of winning a second World Cup has all but ended after a nightmare day at Eden Park.
Needing victory over England to maintain a realistic shot at making the semifinals, New Zealand fell to another agonising loss, being pipped by one wicket.
It was their fourthdefeat in six games at this home tournament - the third by a painfully fine margin - and leaves the hosts requiring an awful lot of help to sneak into the semifinals.
The White Ferns once more crumbled with the bat and were bowled out for 203 in the 49th over, setting a target that proved barely too small to defend.
England then made extremely heavy weather of their chase, and the threat of rain loomed all afternoon in Auckland, but they were always ahead of the run-rate equation and eventually stumbled to their target with 17 balls to spare.
England's Anya Shrubsole celebrates after hitting the winning runs as White Ferns bowler Brooke Halliday can't look. Photo / Photosport
Frankie Mackay's 4-34 and Jess Kerr's 2-36 ensured the margin of defeat ended up much more respectable than it looked like being for much of the day. But the harsh truth is New Zealand weren't good enough to win - and haven't played well enough to reach the semifinals.
Increasing the degree of difficulty today, and exacerbating the pain of a probable World Cup exit, the White Ferns also lost two of their most senior players to injury.
Captain Sophie Devine suffered soreness in her back while batting and was forced to retire hurt, briefly returning to the crease towards the end of the innings but being unable to take the field following the break.
Pace bowler Lea Tahuhu was then cruelly struck down shortly after becoming New Zealand's all-time leading wicket-taker in ODIs, suffering a left hamstring injury and failing to finish her fifth over.
Lea Tahuhu of New Zealand reacts after injuring herself against England. Photo / Getty
Whether the pair are able to return for their side's final pool game against Pakistan on Saturday remains to be seen. The White Ferns' tournament will in theory still be alive at that point, but they will need a huge dose of fortune for it to remain that way until the knockout stages.
The best New Zealand can now hope for is to reach the semifinals on six points. To do that, they will need a big enough win over Pakistan to boost their net run rate, and require England and India to drop one or both of their remaining two games, or the West Indies to lose both their final matches.
In short, it's an improbable mission. And the White Ferns have no one but themselves to blame.
The Eden Park pitch favoured the batters to the degree of 557 runs as Australia pipped India last night, but after being sent in New Zealand made the surface look lethal.
Once again, there were no runs to be found outside the top five, with Maddy Green's unbeaten 52 the best of the starts made by the recognised batters.
New Zealand were well placed on 130-2 after 30 overs before a 17-ball collapse saw them lose 4-11 and lose all the impetus from the innings.
Devine's injury didn't help - the skipper briefly returned to hit one boundary in a six-ball second stay - but there were far too many soft dismissals in what the team had called a virtual quarter-final.
White Ferns skipper Sophie Devine leaves the field injured. Photosport
Their struggles were epitomised by Kerr's comical run out to end the innings, though the No 11 was the only batter outside the top five to acquit herself well.
Kerr was also one of the best with the ball but there were never enough runs on the board, especially as England cruised to 173-4 after 40 overs.
That was when the wheels just about came off, as Mackay's offspin saw England crumble to 196-9, still requiring seven runs for victory.
Frankie Mackay of New Zealand celebrates after taking the wicket of Sophia Dunkley of England. Photo / Getty
But with Tahuhu having left the field after claiming a record 93rd ODI wicket, stand-in skipper Amy Satterthwaite was running short of options with the ball, and England No 11 Anya Shrubsole hit seven from 10 balls to win the match - and potentially end the White Ferns' tournament.
