Sport

White Ferns all good despite another loss to England

09:51 am on 2 October 2024

Amelia Melie Kerr of New Zealand batting Photo: PHOTOSPORT

The White Ferns are confident they got what they needed from their T20 World Cup warmup games despite falling to another loss to England in Dubai.

England's domination of the Ferns continued with a five wicket victory.

The two sides have now met 17 times this year with England winning 15 of those games.

After deciding to bat first New Zealand made 127 for four with Amelia Kerr top scoring with 64.

In reply England reached their target with three overs to spare.

Danni Wyatt made 35, while Rosemary Mair and Lea Tahuhu picked up two wickets each.

"A lot of good things to come out of the game, obviously not the result we were after but these two warmup games are about what you need out of them and by in large we have done that," said assistant coach Craig McMillan.

New Zealand crushed South Africa by eight wickets in their first warmup match earlier this week and McMillan believes the White Ferns are ready for the World Cup proper.

"The first one against South Africa we ticked off all the boxes.

"A number of good things tonight obviously with Amelia Kerr's innings exceptional, so we're ready to go and looking forward to India, a big first up match

That first World Cup game against India is on Saturday morning.

The tournament opens on Thursday night (NZ time) with Bangladesh playing Scotland and Pakistan playing Sri Lanka.

New Zealand is in Group A with Australia, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

Group B contains Bangladesh, England, Scotland, South Africa and West Indies.

The top two teams from each group qualify for the semi-finals.