New Zealand Women vs England Women 1st ODI: Record 7th wicket partnership help England win the first game

A record 130-run stand from wicketkeeper Amy Jones and Charlie Dean helped England Women reach home after a difficult start against the New Zealand Women's team in the series opener in Wellington. Amy Jones remained unbeaten on 92 while Charlie Dean was not out on 42 for the England Women's team.

England was struggling at 79 for 6 while chasing 208 in the first WODI of the series when the unbeaten partnership from the duo for the seventh wicket helped them come out of misery. Their 130-run partnership from 146 balls was England's highest partnership for the seventh wicket or below in Women's ODI Cricket. Jone's unbeaten 92 was also the second-joint highest score for a batter batting at No. 7 or lower in women's ODIs.

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Solid start from Bates and Bezuidenhout

England women captain Heather Knight won the toss and decided to bowl first and chase in Wellington. However, her decision was struck aback by a solid opening partnership from Suzie Bates and Bernadine Bezuidenhout. Their 91-run opening partnership gave the White Ferns the start they were looking for. Charlie Dean provided the breakthrough for the visitors as Bates went back to the pavilion after her 34th WODI fifty.

Soon Bernadine Bezuidenhout was trapped in front by Sophie Ecclestone and without Sophie Devine in their batting lineup, New Zealand struggled to get to the score they were after. Amelia Kerr, the stand-in captain for the injured Devine scored 26 while others struggled to score big. Lauren Bell and Charlie Dean returned with three wickets each while Kate Cross took two wickets to bundle the New Zealand team for 207.

Dean with her second wicket of the match became the fastest bowler in Women's ODI cricket history to claim 50 wickets in 26 games. She went past Rajeshwari Gayakwad's 28-match record.

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Jones and Dean rescued the English team

Though the score did not look par on that Wellington pitch for the English batters, the New Zealand bowlers made a match out of that. Jess Kerr, Amelia's sister dismissed Tammy Beaumont in the first over and except for Maia Bouchier's 31, no English top-order batter could go on to put a big score on the board. Alice Capsey was lbw by Amelia Kerr in the 13th over followed by Nat Sciver-Brunt's run out in the next over.

Amelia cleaned up Danni Wyatt's stumps with a googly and England's scoreboard said 79 for 6 at the end of the 17th over. But, then, it was all about the 7th-wicket partnership from Amy Jones and Charlie Dean that saw them through. Jones completed her fifty off 52 balls but could not get her maiden WODI hundred when Dean scored the winning runs in the 42nd over. In the end, it was an easy win for Heather Knight's team and they are now in the number five position in the ICC Women's Championship 2025 table with 16 points from 16 matches.

Score Summary

NZ-W: 207 ( Bates 50, Dean 57/3, Bell 41/3)

ENG-W: 209/6 ( Jones 92, Dean 42, A.Kerr 46/2, J. Kerr 48/2 )

England Women won by 4 wickets and lead the 3-WODI series by 1-0.