England’s Nat Sciver-Brunt celebrates with teammates after taking the lbw wicket of New Zealand’s Rosemary inCricket Stadium, Visakhapatnam, India on October 26, 2025. — Reuters
Former champions England produced a textbook all-round efficiency to crush New Zealand by eight wickets of their closing Ladies’s World Cup league recreation in Visakhapatnam on Sunday.
The win catapulted England to second place within the desk with 11 factors, slightly below defending champions Australia. They’ll meet South Africa within the semi-finals.
With qualification for the final 4 already assured England used the event to fine-tune their arsenal, notably their spinners, who had been on the cash from the phrase go.
The spin quartet of Linsey Smith, Charlie Dean, Alice Capsey and Sophie Ecclestone spun an online across the White Ferns, sharing seven wickets to set off a collapse.
New Zealand, cruising at 89-1, misplaced Amelia Kerr and Georgia Plimmer in successive deliveries and from there it was a procession. The final 5 wickets tumbled for simply 13 runs because the Kiwis had been bundled out for 168 in below 39 overs, their lowest complete of the match.
“We wanted to put in a good performance. Really happy with that effort and we take lot of confidence heading into the semis,” stated England captain Nat Sciver-Brunt.
The one cloud in England’s in any other case sunny afternoon was Ecclestone’s shoulder damage. The world’s top-ranked bowler claimed the prized wicket of Brooke Halliday earlier than leaving the sphere after simply 4 deliveries. England can be sweating on her health because the enterprise finish of the competitors looms.
Her exit gave half timer Sophia Dunkley a uncommon trundle and with England already boasting an array of finger spinners, her wrist spin added one other string to their bow.
England had been hardly ever examined throughout run chase. Tammy Beaumont and Amy Jones placed on 75 for the primary wicket and Jones then joined fingers with skipper Heather Knight in a 83-run stand as England cantered house with 124 balls to spare.
Jones completed unbeaten on 86, her sixteenth half-century in WODIs, reaching the landmark with a towering six off Suzie Bates and sealing victory with a silken cowl drive.
It was an emotional afternoon for New Zealand nice Sophie Devine, who bowed out of WODIs after a stellar profession.
Although she did not make a mark with the bat, she leaves because the nation’s third highest run getter (4,279) and second highest wicket taker (111). Each groups fashioned a guard of honour for the departing legend.
The White Ferns end a disappointing sixth within the desk, with only one win to their identify, two of their Colombo fixtures having been washed away by rain.
“Really wanted to go on a high, but today’s performance was disappointing. I am humbled to have played for my country for 19 long years. We came with lot of hopes but we weren´t good enough,” Devine stated.
