Key events
9th over: New Zealand 37-1 (Plimmer 17, A Kerr 14) Bell goes back of a length and gives Kerr to much width which she gleefully accepts with a cut for four.
Right then, the debutant Tilly Corteen-Coleman is coming on to bowl. Deep breaths!
8th over: New Zealand 32-1 (Plimmer 17, A Kerr 9) Drop! Maia Bouchier spills a simple chance at gully to give Plimmer a life! Bouchier hangs her head, it was right at her, went in and straight out. Plimmer had just hit two fours too – a pull followed by a rasping cut shot. Filer trudges back to her mark and allowed herself a chunter.
7th over: New Zealand 23-1 (Plimmer 9, A Kerr 8) Lauren Bell is on the money again, just a single to Kerr off the over. England could maybe put a slip in and ramp up the pressure here, they’ll want early wickets after winning the toss and getting first use of the ball in helpful conditions.
6th over: New Zealand 22-1 (Plimmer 9, A Kerr 7) Melie Kerr shows her shotmaking class with a punishing cut for four off Lauren Filer. That flew away to the fence like a pebble skimmed across a glacier. Kerr really is a joy to watch.
5th over: New Zealand 16-1 (Plimmer 8, A Kerr 2) Plimmer pounces on a full delivery from Bell and scythes through cover point for four runs. Bell going full in search of that early swing. The outfield is lush but pretty quick and there’s a decent crowd in, about 4000 tickets sold in advance and a fair few more walk ups.
4th over: New Zealand 11-1 (Plimmer 3, A Kerr 2) Plimmer clips a single into the leg side and Kerr opens her account with a flick off an in-swinger into the leg side. All eyes on England’s fielding, that is an area that Charlotte Edwards has really been drilling them on to improve, dropped catches and sluggish efforts were becoming all too common sight in the years preceding.
3rd over: New Zealand 8-1 (Plimmer 2, A Kerr 0) Georgia Plimmer works a single down to deep third to bring Kerr on strike to Lauren Bell. It’s a top over from the lissom limbed seamer, she keeps Kerr honest for three dots.
2nd over: New Zealand 7-1 (Plimmer 0, A Kerr 0) New Zealand’s captain comes to the middle, Amelia Kerr is in white hot form and is very much a key wicket. Filer wasn’t down to play today but a late niggle for Issy Wong saw her get the call up.
WICKET! Suzie Bates c Jones b Filer 6 (New Zealand 7-1)
Lauren Filer strikes in her first over! Bates beaten for pace and bounce and nibbles at a lifter outside off stump, the thin edge flying to Amy Jones behind the sticks.
1st over: New Zealand 6-0 (Bates 6, Plimmer 0) Lauren Bell has the ball in hand and she bowls England’s first ball in anger for 194 days. It is outside off stump and Suzie Bates picks up two runs with a guide through point. Could be a huge summer for Lauren Bell as she leads this England seam attack, she had a fantastic stint in the WPL with RCB and has really worked on her accuracy.
Ah, as I type that she serves up a full bunger on leg stump that Suzie Bates clips off her pads nonchalantly for four. Six off the first over, England buzz about in their new powder blue kit.
The players take to the field for the anthems, we’ll be underway very shortly.
Tanya is on the tools for the county championship live blog, you can dip a toe right here:
England are blooding new players then, Sky show a nicely done package with Ian Ward and Head Coach Charlotte Edwards as she talks about how she has been drilling this team and making sure they are primed to give everything in something of a defining summer. Edwards describes teenage off spinner Tilly Corteen-Coleman as “a dream” to work with.
Raf was critical of the status quo in this piece a few weeks back. It would have been nice to see another teenage sensation, this time with the bat in hand – Davina Perrin get an opportunity.
Teams:
England hand ODI dayboos to Jodi Grewcock, Tilly Corteen-Coleman and Dani Gibson.
England: Emma Lamb, Jodi Grewcock, Heather Knight, Maia Bouchier, Freya Kemp, Amy Jones (wk), Dani Gibson, Charlie Dean, Lauren Filer, Lauren Bell, Tilly Corteen-Coleman
New Zealand: Suzie Bates, Georgia Plimmer, Amelia Kerr (capt), Maddy Green, Brooke Halliday, Izzy Gaze (wk), Izzy Sharp, Jess Kerr, Nensi Patel, Rose Mair, Bree Illing
England win the toss and choose to bowl first
The sun is shining in Durham but it still looks like top coat temperature. Charlie Dean has no hesitation in sticking the opposition in. She says there are three debutants in the side today and mentions “turning the page” with this ODI side. Kerr admits that she would have bowled first too, there should be some life in the wicket early on.
Confirmed sides in two tics.
Preamble
James Wallace
Hello and welcome to the start of the English international summer. England’s women take on New Zealand in a three match ODI series before a trio of T20s against Amelia Kerr’s impressive White Ferns sets them up for a home T20 World Cup on home soil.
Charlie Dean steps up to take the Captain’s arm band with Nat Sciver-Brunt hoping to recover from a calf tear in time to lead the side in the World Cup starting on June 12th.
“I think it’s 194 days maybe since our last international game.” Dean told the press in her media duties ahead of this series. “We’ve had a really productive winter. We’ve not had international series, which hasn’t been fantastic, but we’ve really made the most of the prep that we have had.”
It is a huge summer for English and women’s cricket, as Raf Nicholson excellently put it in these pages:
“Historic occasions are like buses: you spend ages twiddling your thumbs and then two come along at once. England have waited nine years for another home World Cup, wallowing all the while in memories of their win in 2017, and almost a century for a maiden women’s Test at Lord’s. Now both are being thrust upon them over the space of a single month, from 12 June to 13 July, in a true summer bonanza for women’s cricket.
First, though, a T20 World Cup dress rehearsal: three one-day internationals against New Zealand, followed by three Twenty20s against the same opposition, and another three against India. The 50-over series, which begins on Sunday in Durham, feels a little as if it has been plonked thoughtlessly into the calendar. The wicketkeeper Kira Chathli and all-rounder Jodi Grewcock could make their England debuts – after all, the head coach, Charlotte Edwards, promised us she would “look to the future” after England’s drubbing in last year’s 50-over World Cup semi-final. But right now, no one in the England management has much bandwidth to plan for anything other than the possibility of reaching a home final at Lord’s on 5 July.”
Play begins in Durham at 11am and we’ll have news from the toss and the teams very shortly. Join us for all the OBO action and please do get in touch throughout the day.