| Second ODI, Seddon Park, Hamilton |
| England 252 (49 overs): Beaumont 81 (96), Jones 48 (40); Bates 2-24 |
| New Zealand 196 (45 overs): holiday 57 (90), gaze 47 (48); Sciver-Brunt 3-21 |
| England won by 56 runs |
| Achievement: |
Tammy Beaumont scored 81 to lead England to a 56-run series win over New Zealand in the second one-day international at Seddon Park in Hamilton.
The opener played fluently during her 96-ball innings and stitched a 70-run partnership with captain Heather Knight as England laid the foundation for a big total.
But New Zealand hit back and after losing 6-59, England needed a quick 48 from Amy Jones to be all out for a competitive 252.
This proved more than enough as the White Ferns, facing some disciplined bowling from England, quickly fell behind at the required rate.
Brooke Halliday and Izzy Gaze gave New Zealand hope with a 100-run partnership for the fifth wicket but England halted the momentum by bringing back their fast bowlers.
The pair were out in quick succession and England cruised to victory as the home side were all out for 196 in the 45th over.
Nat Sciver-Brunt was England’s best bowler, taking 3-21.
Having secured an unassailable 2-0 lead in the series, Knight’s side will be aiming to complete a clean sweep in the third ODI at the same venue on Sunday.
Beaumont sets the stage for Jones’s rescue
With Beaumont and Knight at the crease, the pitch looked flat, the batting looked easy and England were on their way to a big score.
However, a middle-order collapse in the second game threatened to derail the tourists’ innings.
Jess Kerr removed Knight and Sciver-Brunt with a pair of well-executed slower balls before Alice Capsey was stumped off the bowling of Fran Jonas.
Beaumont remained calm at the other end and chose her moments to attack as she marched towards her 10th ODI century.
A torrent of blood deprived her of that milestone as she walked Hannah Rowe and dispatched the ball to mid-on with an ugly leg-side swipe.
It was a shot completely out of sync with the controlled aggression shown by Beaumont up to that point and when Danny Wyatt and Charlie Dean fell soon after, England were in trouble at 166-7.
After his match-winning innings in Wellington, it was left to Jones to rescue them again with another valuable counter-attacking innings.
Kate Cross supported the wicketkeeper-batsman well to take the visitors to a serviceable score, but as impressive as Jones has been, England will certainly not need their number seven to save them so often as he has. Has been in this series. ,
England still knows how to win
While England have not been at their best as a batting unit, they have shown the ruthlessness of a team accustomed to winning.
This is a quality missing from an inexperienced New Zealand team, who have conceded the lead in both games of this series and have failed to take the lead on each occasion.
Whenever the roles have been reversed, England have been clinical. He squeezed the White Ferns’ batting line-up, replacing Bernadine Bezuidenhout, who was pulled while fielding and unable to bat.
Even when Halliday and Gaze were building their partnership, it never felt like things were taking off for England.
With the tourists in trouble, Bell and Cross returned to attack, followed soon after by Sciver-Brunt and the pressure increased.
This led to Gage being run out, Halliday falling eight balls later and with that, the game was over as a contest.
England could do without some of the batting collapse, but they still have players who have the quality and information required to perform well during the game.
‘It’s good to be under pressure’ – reaction
England’s Tammy Beaumont, player of the match: “The best time to bat was probably against the new ball – that’s the advantage of being an opening batsman. In the middle it definitely got tougher and, at times, I wouldn’t have been able to do the job if it was me or the wicket.
“I was getting a bit frustrated, but I got to 50, then tried to kick and try to play a bit of catch-up. My dad is probably sitting at home saying that’s criminal That I got out on 81 and left the team to do some work.”
England captain Heather Knight: “It was a really hard-fought win. The wicket was quite tricky. We probably lost a bit of the way in the middle but we know how much depth and quality we have – and the way Amy played in that partnership with Kate again Played with, that got us we thought the total was defendable.
“I’m really happy with the way we progressed. We were tested which is really good, we were put under pressure, which is good for us as a team. We didn’t play big 50s “Cricket has been over in the last 18 months, so it’s really important to work in those conditions.”
New Zealand captain Amelia Kerr: “Another tough loss, but I think there were a lot of good things. The way Brooke and Izzy played were excellent. Even though the scorecard doesn’t look so good, I think they gave us a chance to win that game. “
