An unbeaten century from England captain Charlotte Edwards led her team to a four-wicket win against New Zealand, which secured third place in the Women’s World Cup. In what may be Edwards’ last World Cup game, she guided the chase of 221 with an innings of 106 off 121 balls, equalling the most centuries in women’s ODIs – eight.
After being put in to bat, New Zealand began sedately with a couple of productive partnerships, before the run-out of Sophie Devine and three middle-order wickets to spinner Holly Colvin hurt them. Suzie Bates, the highest run-getter in the tournament, had been dismissed for 21, but No. 3 Amy Satterthwaite, who had scored a century in her previous match, stayed until the 47th over to score 85 and guide her side past 200.
England lost Danielle Wyatt early wicket in the chase, but were more assured thereafter. Edwards added 78 with Sarah Taylor, 53 with Lydia Greenway, and 58 with Arran Brindle to help them to 199 for 3 in the 42nd over. They then lost three wickets for three runs, before Laura Marsh and Edwards took England home. Offspinner Lucy Doolan was New Zealand’s most productive bowler, taking 3 for 50 in her ten overs.
Edwards was happy to have contributed to a fruitful World Cup campaign. “I came into this tournament after having worked incredibly hard over the winter – not just on my skills, but I had also worked on my fitness. It’s really nice to reap rewards of that. Two hundreds in this tournament, I am really proud of that, for me it’s been about me contributing to the team and today was about getting to third place and ending the tournament on a high,” she said.
New Zealand’s captain Bates felt her team needed 30 more runs in their innings. Her team, she said, played their worst in their final three games of the tournament.
“I think the last three games, we probably played our worst cricket which is what we will probably remember from the tournament. The game against West Indies where we lost hurt us badly and we didn’t play well enough.”
Sri Lanka captain Shashikala Siriwardene, with an all-round display, helped her team to the fifth position in the tournament as South Africa were beaten by 88 runs.
After choosing to bat, Sri Lanka found themselves at a precarious 14 for 2 in the fourth over. Chamari Atapattu and Deepika Rasangika steadied the innings thereafter to put on 68 runs for the third wicket.
Rasangika was dismissed in the 22nd over, and the new batsman, Siriwardene continued to build on the previous partnership with an 82-run stand with Atapattu, who finished as the highest scorer in the innings with 52. Siriwardene was stumped on 44, sending in bowler Eshani Kaushalya to add impetus to the score as she scored a quick 43, off 31 balls. Sri Lanka finished with a competitive 244 for 7.
South Africa were unable to put on substantial partnerships in their chase, as they lost wickets at crucial intervals through their innings. Chamani Seneviratna and Sripali Weerakkody helped dismiss the top order, and they were reduced to 49 for 4 in 17 overs. From there on, Siriwardene took over as she picked up 4 for 32 to help finish off the tail. Shandre Fritz was the only batsman to offer any resistance; she scored 54 before being run out by Kaushalya.
