England knocked out defending champions New Zealand from the Women’s T20 World Cup

Danni Wyatt-Hodge (Getty Images) England ended New Zealand’s reign as Women’s T20 World Cup champions with a commanding nine-wicket win at The Oval on Saturday.The defending champions bowed out after losing three of their five matches in the group stage.Earlier in the day, New Zealand received an unexpected boost as Ireland beat the West Indies by six wickets in Bristol to keep the Kiwis’ semi-final hopes alive.Ireland’s win also ended a 21-match losing streak in five Women’s T20 World Cups that spanned 12 years.“A few of us are half Irish now,” joked New Zealand veteran Sophie Devine. “(Our) fate is in our hands.”However, New Zealand still needed to beat an unbeaten English side to reach the semi-finals ahead of the West Indies.

Wyatt-Hodge propel England to easy chase

After New Zealand posted 163/6, England chased down the target with ease, reaching 164/1 with 16 balls to spare.Opener Danni Wyatt-Hodge led the charge with an unbeaten 89 off 53 balls, smashing 15 fours and one six in front of a crowd of 21,018 – the highest attendance for a T20 Women’s World Cup group stage match.The remaining two semi-final spots will be decided on Sunday, with Australia, South Africa and India still up for grabs.

Wyatt-Hodge broke the tournament record

Wyatt-Hodge continued her excellent tournament after scoring a century in England’s opener. He now has two fifties and a hundred in the competition.With 282 runs, she is comfortably the highest run scorer in the tournament. She also broke the Women’s T20 World Cup record for most runs in a single edition, surpassing Beth Mooney’s 259 runs in 2020, with potentially two more matches to go.The England opener survived two early chances. She was dropped behind the stumps before opening the account and also got another lifeline on 13 when a stumping chance was missed.Her fifty came off just 33 balls. She shared a winning partnership of 128 runs from 80 balls with Sophia Dunkley, who remained unbeaten on 49 off 38 balls with nine boundaries. Dunkley is England’s second highest run-scorer in the tournament with 120 runs.

New Zealand fall behind despite a solid start

New Zealand chose to bat first and got off to a very good start thanks to a 70-run opening partnership between Isabella Gaze and Melie Kerr.But the innings lost steam when Gaze, Kerr and Izzy Sharp were dismissed within four deliveries. Brooke Halliday and Sophie Devine added 74 runs before both fell in the same over.Maddy Green and Suzie Bates tried to finish strongly, but New Zealand’s total proved to be well short of what was needed against England’s strong batting.

The end of an era for New Zealand

The defeat also marked the end of the international careers of Sophie Devine, Suzie Bates and fast bowler Lea Tahuhu.The trio signed after completing nearly 900 international appearances in New Zealand.