Source: Radio New Zealand
Sophie Devine of New Zealand batting www.photosport.nz
England have cruised to a seven-wicket win over the White Ferns in the opening T20 international at Derby.
New Zealand scored 136 for seven from their 20 overs and England reached their target with 16 balls to spare thanks to an unbeaten 74 from Alice Capsey.
The New Zealand innings got off to a disastrous start with Georgia Plimmer dragging an inside edge onto her wickets off the first ball of the match.
Captain Melie Kerr managed eight before she was caught and so it was left to Devine to provide some momentum to the Ferns’ innings.
Devine got straight into the swing of things and her 45 off 22 balls included four sixes and four fours.
However, her dismissal in the ninth over left New Zealand on 70 for four.
It was left to Maddy Green and Izzy Sharp to consolidate the innings and they both managed a run a ball to get New Zealand through to what in the end was a disappointing total. Sharp finished unbeaten on 26, while Green made 23.
Kerr admitted they were short of a few runs in their innings.
“That middle phase after Sophie got out it just looked hard to score for our group so I would have loved 150-160. There were too many dot balls and not enough boundaries.
“A loss that hurts and we were nowhere near our best so we’re looking to bounce back quickly,” Kerr said afterwards.
Suzie Bates was set to bat at number nine.
Pace bowler Lauren Bell and spinner Charlie Dean took two wickets each.
Georgia Plimmer of New Zealand is bowled www.photosport.nz
While the Ferns picked up a couple of England wickets early, youngster Alice Capsey and the experienced Heather Knight managed to get the home side back on track and they were able to keep up with the required run-rate.
Capsey, 21, was the player of the match with her 74 coming off 51 balls and included ten boundaries.
Bree Illing finished with two wickets.
England were without their injured captain Nat Sciver-Brunt and batter Danni Wyatt-Hodge.
Game two is at Canterbury on Sunday.
– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
Original source: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/05/21/sophie-devine-fireworks-not-enough-for-white-ferns/