Match report: India v NZ, 3rd place playoff
First Published : 28 Jun 2011, 00:41
Last Modified : 28 Jun 2011, 19:11
Aldershot, June 27: India won the third place playoff of the NatWest Women's T20 Quadrangular Series after beating New Zealand by three wickets.
Chasing 96 runs to win at the Officers Club Services Ground here, India reached the target with a ball to spare. With NZ pacer Kelly Anderson sending back openers Poonam Raut and Neha Tanwar early in the innings and Mithali Raj out for just nine runs, India were three wickets down for 24. Although the top-order disappointed again, skipper Jhulan Goswami’s unbeaten 28-ball 33 helped India break their losing streak. Other valuable contributions came from Harmanpreet Kaur (14 runs) and Veda Krishnamurthy (15 runs). India were also aided by the 14 extras conceded by New Zealand.
Opting to bat first, New Zealand posted 95 runs on the board in their 20 overs. Amita Sharma sent back Suzie Bates and Aimee Watkins with the NZ score on 19 runs. They were followed by Sara McGlashan (1) who was bowled by Snehal Pradhan. Coming in at No. 4, Amy Satterthwaite (35 runs) and Liz Perry (18 runs) stitched together a crucial 39-run partnership. But with the departure of Perry, wickets kept falling at regular intervals and NZ could not even manage to reach the three-figure mark.
Goswami, Pradhan and Priyanka Roy took a wicket each while Sharma claimed two wickets. This was India’s first and only victory in the T20I series.
Brief scores: New Zealand 95/7 in 20 overs (Amy Satterthwaite 35, Amita Sharma 2/11) lost to India 96/7 in 19.5 overs (Jhulan Goswami 33*, Kelly Anderson 3/17, Aimee Watkins 2/16) by 3 wickets
Player-of-the-match: Jhulan Goswamifor her unbeaten 33 runs and one wicket
