England equalled the highest successful run chase in Women’s T20 World Cup history to lay down a marker for next week’s knockout stages and eliminate defending champions New Zealand.
Danni Wyatt-Hodge underpinned the pursuit of 164 with 89 not out – her third fifty-plus score of the tournament – while Sophia Dunkley chipped in with an unbeaten 49 as England got home with nine wickets and 16 balls to spare.
Already guaranteed top spot in Group B, the pair’s unbroken 128-run stand in front of a bumper 21,018 crowd at the Kia Oval helped England equal the previous best tournament run chase, when they beat Australia in the 2009 semi-finals en route to their first and only T20 title.
A fifth win from five tournament matches for England – and a seventh in a row in all in T20s – handed an early exit to the 2024 winners, with the West Indies claiming second spot in the group.
It brings an abrupt end to the international careers of veteran trio Sophie Devine, Suzie Bates and Lea Tahuhu, who take a combined 448 T20 caps with them, but England can now look forward to the semi-finals, where they will return to the Oval on either Tuesday or Thursday.
Devine did not go quietly with 30 off 14 balls while fellow all-rounder Bates made a canny 19 off 13 but they lacked support in New Zealand’s 163 for six, where runs and wickets arrived in clusters.
Their efforts were soon put into the shade as Wyatt-Hodge was allowed to tuck into the off-side with cuts and drives while Amy Jones flickered for 17 before failing to loft over mid-off off Nensi Patel.
Two balls earlier, Wyatt-Hodge had advanced to the wrist-spinner and missed a heave but wicketkeeper Isabella Gaze failed to gather cleanly and a stumping chance when the in-form opener was on 13 went begging.
It was a costly miss as Wyatt-Hodge continued to feast on anything short and wide as the boundaries piled up alongside Dunkley, once again standing in for injured England captain Nat Sciver-Brunt.
Whether Dunkley has done enough to retain her place remains to be seen but she was an excellent foil for Wyatt-Hodge, the duo unperturbed by a 20-minute rain delay on a sultry evening in south London.
Wyatt-Hodge, averaging 94 in five tournament knocks, moved seamlessly to a 33-ball half-century on the resumption and she and Dunkley hardly looked back.
A century was not in the offing for Wyatt-Hodge but she hit a six off Jess Kerr to go with 15 fours while Dunkley looked odds-on for a second 50 in three innings but the winning moment was anticlimactic as, with the scores level, Tahuhu ended her New Zealand career by sending down a wide.
New Zealand’s openers were earlier pedestrian when they needed dynamism, putting on 70 in 60 balls before Gaze shovelled straight to Alice Capsey for 28 as she sought a third four off Freya Kemp.
Melie Kerr missed a scoop and was castled for 42 by the next ball from Dani Gibson, who made it three wickets in four deliveries when Izzy Sharp chopped on, but Devine redressed the balance by thumping back-to-back sixes off Charlie Dean and another off Sophie Ecclestone for good measure.
New Zealand, though, lost two in an over again when Dean’s direct hit to run out Brooke Halliday was followed by Lauren Bell getting an lbw verdict over Devine to end her brutal cameo.
Bates collected three successive fours off Kemp before being run out off the last ball chasing a bye.
