Sarah Glenn took a brilliant four-fer against New Zealand to help England continue their dominance with a seven-wicket victory at The Kia Oval in the fourth T20I.
Glenn (4-19) struck with her very first ball, bowling New Zealand’s opener Georgia Plimmer (17) before striking again two balls later to remove Amelia Kerr (0) for a duck as the tourists continued to struggle against England’s spin attack.
Glenn then removed Maddy Green (24) and Jess Kerr (1) in the 17th over as New Zealand were restricted to103-8.
In reply, England made a blistering start to their chase with openers Sophia Dunkley (26) and Danni Wyatt putting on a 54-run partnership and hitting eight boundaries between them – compared to New Zealand’s seven across their whole innings.
New Zealand managed to put a slight dent in England’s chase, removing their openers in quick succession, but Nat Sciver-Brunt and skipper Heather Knight saw their side home inside 12 overs.
The fifth and final T20I takes place on Wednesday at Lord’s, where the hosts will look to complete a clean sweep, while New Zealand will hope to get their first victory in the multi-format series.
Glenn shines under Oval lights
Glenn took two wickets in three balls she removed Plimmer (17) with a straight delivery that knocked down her middle stump before dismissing Kerr (0) for a duck with a short ball slapped to mid-wicket.
Danielle Gibson (1-7), who was brought back into the side, repaid Jon Lewis’ faith by taking the prized scalp of New Zealand’s captain Sophie Devine (5) with a brilliant inswinger that crashed into her stumps.
Suzie Bates (16) made good inroads for her side at the start, helping New Zealand post 33-0 at the end of the powerplay, but was undone by an arm ball from Sophie Ecclestone (2-16) that shattered her stumps.
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England’s Danielle Gibson bowls an excellent inswinger to get Sophie Devine out
Ecclestone struck again in the 12th over to see the back of Brooke Halliday (3), who holed out to Gibson at mid-on leaving the tourists faltering on 52-5.
Maddy Green (24) and Izzy Gaze (25) shared a much-needed partnership worth 28 to drag New Zealand to 80-5 before Glenn struck twice again in the 17th over to claim her third four-wicket haul in T20Is. Green chipped to Gibson at mid-on whilst Jess Kerr (one) swiped across the wrong line and had her middle stump rattled.
Gaze struck the first six of New Zealand’s innings with a slog-sweep that went straight through Danni Wyatt’s hand at deep mid-wicket, but was run out off the final ball.
England showcase batting brilliance
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Two wickets in an over for Glenn
England hit their best powerplay score against New Zealand in T20s as they reached 64-1, the only breakthrough coming when Dunkley skied Lea Tahuhu into the covers where Bates safely held on, offering the tourists some much needed respite.
Alice Capsey (9) looked to cut a googly from Kerr (1-23) in the seventh over but played her line too late which ended in her off-stump getting knocked back.
New Zealand continued to dent England’s chase with Wyatt falling in the following over when she top-edged Eden Carson (1-11) into the leg-side.
However Heather Knight (14) and Nat Sciver-Brunt (17no) shared an unbeaten, match-winning 31-run partnership.
It was fitting that Sciver-Brunt, who had a gate named after her at the venue on Friday, hit the winning runs – smashing Kerr for back-to-back boundaries to wrap up another sparkling win.
Glenn: I love to chase wickets
Player of the Match, Sarah Glenn, after her 4-19:
“The girls had so much energy in the field and backed me up as a bowler. We did really well as a bowling unit.
“I feel like I’ve not changed too much technically, it’s more about just the mindset I go into games with.
“I love to chase wickets… but also have a really calm head and stay really present.”
Devine: We’re not learning quick enough
New Zealand captain Sophie Devine:
“England are certainly giving us some pretty honest, hard lessons.
“At the moment we’re not learning from them. Again we lost wickets in clumps – you can’t do that against the best sides.
“We’ve got to find ways to rebuild and put pressure back on. But at the moment we’re not learning quick enough.”
Knight: We want to go summer unbeaten
England captain Heather Knight:
“I think we played really well.
“We fed off the crowd. There was great energy from them and we really wanted to put on a good performance tonight to entertain the people that come out to watch us.
“We did outstandingly. Again, we were so slick with the ball, so ruthless – we were so attacking, always looking for wickets.
“We’ve worked hard to get here. At times we’ve been put under pressure and we’ve responded really well.
“We want to go this summer unbeaten – so the next game at Lord’s we want to be really ruthless and finish on a high.”
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