New Zealand had another poor day in the field and were nearly embarrassed by Ireland on a glorious sunny day in Southampton before the defending champions held their nerve and kept their semi-final chances alive with their first win of the tournament. It was far from a convincing day for New Zealand, who were reduced to 10 for 3 and 110 for 5 before the middle-order lifted them to 140. Ireland also kept New Zealand sweating for much of the 20 overs in the chase until the magic arm of Melie Kerr broke the century stand between Orla Prendergast and Gaby Lewis to bring the equation to 25 needed from 12.

Ireland needed 18 from eight balls once Lewis fell in the penultimate over, and the two new batters found it much tougher to nail the big shots. Louise Little and Leah Paul brought it down to 15 off the last over that was given to Suzie Bates, who was playing her first game of this World Cup, having replaced Sophie Devine, who fell sick just before the game. The lack of pace from Bates meant Paul and Little couldn’t find a boundary, and they fell short by four runs when they needed six off the last ball.

Now fourth in Group 2, New Zealand will know better than anyone that they will need far better performances to make the knockouts, as their last league game will be against England after they meet Scotland next.

At the helm for Ireland was Prendergast, who first dented New Zealand with her new-ball burst before her 45-ball half-century took Ireland agonisingly close, only three days after they gave England a scare too. New Zealand’s hero also turned out to be their allrounder Melie, who first pulled them out of a hole and picked two crucial wickets in the end.

New Zealand were in deep trouble early and lots had to do with Prendergast, who kept going for the top of middle stump and was rewarded twice. Isabella Gaze fell first when she missed a scoop on the first ball of the second over for just 1. That she fell the very next delivery after Georgia Plimmer had handed a catch straight to mid-off made the score 6 for 2.

Maddy Green had eaten up five dots and when she charged against Prendergast at the start of the third over, New Zealand had slipped to 10 for 3. Prendergast was, however, taken off after two overs that fetched her figures of 2 for 6 with eight dot balls. It was Melie who rescued them along with Brooke Halliday as the captain stepped out against the spinners regularly to rotate the strike and find boundaries while also scooping and cutting Arlene Kelly for back-to-back boundaries in the last over of the powerplay to lift the scoring rate.

Halliday was largely kept quiet at the start as Ireland bowled smartly to their fields. But Melie perished too, holing out to deep midwicket for 30 off 24 as the Ireland spinners took the pace off considerably to make hitting a lot tougher. While Halliday largely anchored, Isabella Sharp started to find the gaps more frequently as at last one boundary was hit from overs 10 to 13 to lift the run rate from under six to 6.61.

But Ireland fought back and dried up the boundaries for the next 35 balls while also removing the set batters. Halliday had just received some medical treatment and swept one straight to short fine leg for 34 in the 17th over before Sharp holed out to long-off for 36 off 28. Bates, batting at No. 7 for the first time in T20Is in her 19-year career, finally broke the boundary drought with a reverse lap and also ended the innings with a desperate six pulled from way outside off after exposing her stumps.

Left-arm quick Bree Illing gave New Zealand’s defence a fiery start with her pace close to 120kph and her height making things uncomfortable for Ireland’s top-order. She nailed an inswinging yorker to remove Amy Hunter for 2 before Prendergast and Lewis saw through her remaining three overs, which were bowled on the trot.

The rest of the attack didn’t look as threatening, which the duo of Prendergast and Lewis capitalised on, especially by stepping out and making room to find the gaps. Prendergast also got a life when a leaping Nensi Patel got a hand to a slice at point but only got fingertips. The pressure on New Zealand was visible as the runs kept coming and wickets eluded them by fine margins.

Lewis survived a loud lbw appeal on 25 off Melie in the ninth over and New Zealand lost a review as ball-tracking showed the ball was missing leg stump. Prendergast was given out lbw off Jess Kerr three overs later but a review saved her as ball-tracking again showed the ball going down leg. The duo picked a boundary each off Nensi in the next over to reduce the equation to 59 from 42. With only five bowlers at their disposal, the match was slipping out of New Zealand’s hands.

Melie had two overs left and she brought herself back for the 14th and Prendergast’s six off her on the leg side made it 50 from 36. That soon became 34 from 24 but Melie’s last attempt in the 18th over finally worked for New Zealand. She had Prendergast hole out to deep midwicket while Rebecca Stokell hit one to cover two balls later. The four-run over had turned the tables on Ireland. With 25 to get from 12, Lewis took charge as the set batter but she skied one to cover after a boundary and the match was now New Zealand’s to lose. Bates came on for the finishing touches with the ball too and only a streak of singles and doubles off her bowling found Ireland short.

SCORES:
New Zealand Women  140 for 6 in 20 overs  (Melie Kerr 30, Sharp 36, Brooke Halliday 34, Izzy Sharp 36, Suzie Bates 19*; Aaimee Maguire 1-32, Orla Prendergast 2-26, Arlene Kelly 1-25, Cara Murray 2-26) beat Ireland 136 for 4 in 20 overs (Orla Prendergast 59, Gaby Lewis 58; Rosemary Mair 1-31, Bree Illing 1-18,  Melie Kerr 2-23) by four runs

[Cricinfo]