Key events
New Zealand XI
Two changes for New Zealand – Susie Bates is replaced by Nensi Patel and Lea Tahuh is in for Rosemary Mair.
New Zealand: Georgia Plimmer, Isabella Gaze (wk), Melie Kerr (c), Sophie Devine, Brooke Halliday, Maddy Green, Izzy Sharp, Jess Kerr, Nensi Patel, Lea Tahuhu, Bree Illing
England XI
England omit Sophie Ecclestone (right quad, precautionary) and replace her with Izzy Wong.
England XI: Sophia Dunkley, Alice Capsey, Maia Bouchier, Heather Knight, Freya Kemp, Danielle Gibson, Amy Jones (wk), Charlie Dean (c), Issy Wong, Linsey Smith, Lauren Bell.
New Zealand win the toss and will bat
Charlie Dean flicks the coin and Melie Kerr calls correctly.
More on Ecclestone, in Raf’s report from the last game.
“The oddest thing of all, though, was that Ecclestone, the world No 2, finished up by far the most expensive of the six bowlers. It feels sacrilegious, but if Edwards is really serious about getting Corteen-Coleman into her XI, it may be that she has to do the unthinkable and omit Ecclestone.”
Team news shortly.
Raf Nicholson is in situ at a full to the rafters Canterbury, where she reports that it is sweltering and they’re doing a roaring trade in iced coffee.
She’s also been talking to Kent’s resident women’s cricket historian, Rosemary Piddock, “who tells me that the first women’s match at this ground was 1959.”
Preamble
Hello! The circus moves to Canterbury today where England and New Zealand meet for their second T20 and fifth warm-up before the Big Top opens on June 12. The record so far? England win; NZ win; washout; England win.
Switch on the television to catch the postmortem at the last match – Ian Ward and Simon Doull saying Sophie Ecclestone is no longer a shoo-in for an England place with Linsey Smith undroppable and Tilly Corteen-Coleman coming up on the inside. Fascinating stuff ahead of the World Cup.
Play starts at 2.30 and we’ll have team news and toss news, shortly. Do join us.