New Zealand 140 for 6 (Sharp 36, Halliday 34, Prendergast 2-26, Murray 2-6) beat Ireland 136 for 4 (Prendergast 59, Lewis 58, Melie 2-23) by four runs
Now fourth in Group 2, New Zealand will know better than anyone that they will need far better performances to make the knockouts, as their last league game will be against England after they meet Scotland next.
At the helm for Ireland was Prendergast, who first dented New Zealand with her new-ball burst before her 45-ball half-century took Ireland agonisingly close, only three days after they gave England a scare too. New Zealand’s hero also turned out to be their allrounder Melie, who first pulled them out of a hole and picked two crucial wickets in the end.
The blast from Prendergast
New Zealand were in deep trouble early and lots had to do with Prendergast, who kept going for the top of middle stump and was rewarded twice. Isabella Gaze fell first when she missed a scoop on the first ball of the second over for just 1. That she fell the very next delivery after Georgia Plimmer had handed a catch straight to mid-off made the score 6 for 2.
Maddy Green had eaten up five dots and when she charged against Prendergast at the start of the third over, New Zealand had slipped to 10 for 3. Prendergast was, however, taken off after two overs that fetched her figures of 2 for 6 with eight dot balls. It was Melie who rescued them along with Brooke Halliday as the captain stepped out against the spinners regularly to rotate the strike and find boundaries while also scooping and cutting Arlene Kelly for back-to-back boundaries in the last over of the powerplay to lift the scoring rate.
Halliday, Sharp, Bates lift New Zealand
Halliday was largely kept quiet at the start as Ireland bowled smartly to their fields. But Melie perished too, holing out to deep midwicket for 30 off 24 as the Ireland spinners took the pace off considerably to make hitting a lot tougher. While Halliday largely anchored, Isabella Sharp started to find the gaps more frequently as at last one boundary was hit from overs 10 to 13 to lift the run rate from under six to 6.61.
But Ireland fought back and dried up the boundaries for the next 35 balls while also removing the set batters. Halliday had just received some medical treatment and swept one straight to short fine leg for 34 in the 17th over before Sharp holed out to long-off for 36 off 28. Bates, batting at No. 7 for the first time in T20Is in her 19-year career, finally broke the boundary drought with a reverse lap and also ended the innings with a desperate six pulled from way outside off after exposing her stumps.
Prendergast and Lewis nearly pull it off
Left-arm quick Bree Illing gave New Zealand’s defence a fiery start with her pace close to 120kph and her height making things uncomfortable for Ireland’s top-order. She nailed an inswinging yorker to remove Amy Hunter for 2 before Prendergast and Lreis saw through her remaining three overs, which were bowled on the trot.
The rest of the attack didn’t look as threatening, which the duo of Prendergast and Lewis capitalised on, especially by stepping out and making room to find the gaps. Prendergast also got a life when a leaping Nensi Patel got a hand to a slice at point but only got fingertips. The pressure on New Zealand was visible as the runs kept coming and wickets eluded them by fine margins.
Lewis survived a loud lbw appeal on 25 off Melie in the ninth over and New Zealand lost a review as ball-tracking showed the ball was missing leg stump. Prendergast was given out lbw off Jess Kerr three overs later but a review saved her as ball-tracking again showed the ball going down leg. The duo picked a boundary each off Nensi in the next over to reduce the equation to 59 from 42. With only five bowlers at their disposal, the match was slipping out of New Zealand’s hands.
Full report to follow…
Vishal Dikshit is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo
