NEW ZEALAND OVERCOME JITTERS TO BEAT SCOTLAND

ICC 10th WOMEN's WORLD CUP - Match 19 – New Zealand v Scotland at Bristol on 23 June 2026

Result – New Zealand beat Scotland by 6 wickets
Points – New Zealand 2(4), Ireland 0(0)
Toss – New Zealand
Umpires – Claire Polosak, Saleema Imtiaz, V. Gayathri (TV)
Player of the Match – Izzy Sharp
Match Centre Link - You can view the scorecard, watch highlights and engage more at Match Centre of ICC. The match can be accessed here. 

SCOTLAND INNINGS
A GOOD START
The 19th match featured New Zealand and Scotland and both were the first teams to land on their 4^th match. While qualifications chances were bleak for both the sides, New Zealand would want to ensure their recovery and Scotland would love to upset a beleaguered New Zealand and grab first points. The action moved to Bristol. New Zealand won the toss and invited Scotland to bat so that they can chase for the first time in the competition. Significantly, they had all 3 veterans – Sophie, Suzie & Lea playing the match. Rachel & Alice returned for Scotland.

Lea Tahuhu opened the bowling for NZ with the impressive Darcey taking strike for SCO. Katherine was the non striker. Lea started with a dot that was lucky not to be called a wide. Her next ball saw Darcey unleash her pace push between backward point and short third. Darcey took a single of the 3^rd ball and Katherine couldn’t score of the next 3 balls. Bree Illing came from the other end and like the previous over, Darcey scored 3 in 2 balls and Katherine couldn’t score of the remaining 4 balls. The last ball of the over saw Katherine nicking one which was grassed by keeper Isabelle Gaze. Katherine finally got of the mark in the 2^nd ball of the 3^rd over which was bowled by Jess. Darcey carted a boundary in the leg side in the 5^th ball and kept strike. Darcey found a lucky edge in the next over bowled by Bree and followed it up with a deliberate cut the next ball to find another boundary in the same direction. Darcey was in thick of the action in  the 5^th over bowled by Jess as well. She smacked a six over midwicket in the 3^rd ball and followed it with shove past mid on for a boundary. Nensi & spin was brought to close the power play. Nensi stuck to the basics and conceded just 4 runs. Darcey was lucky in the 4^th ball where she missed a heave by a good margin and the ball missed the bails by millimeters. SCO were 45/0 after power play with Darcey alone scoring 36. A good start for the Scots considering they were scoring at 7.5 and didn’t lose a wicket.

BOWLING BACK TO ADVANTAGE
Melie brought herself in and despite a last ball boundary by Darcey, conceded just 6 runs. NZ needed a wicket and Lea who bowled the 8^th over got Katherine out caught by Bates. It was even special as it was Lea’s 100^th T20I wicket. As I like to type, Kathyrn replaced Katherine and completed the over with 4 dot balls and an impressive boundary. Melie continued from the other end. After conceding 3 singles, she had Kathryn misreading a googly and Izzy Sharp took a not so sharp catch. As I like to type, S Bryce replaced K Bryce and saw off the next 2 dot balls. Nensi bowled the 10^th over and completed one quick and good conceding just 5 runs. At half way mark, SCO were 63/2. NZ had seized the momentum post power play but Darcey & Sarah were capable to bat back SCO to advantage.

Bree’s 11^th over went for just 4 runs. Sarah finally found a boundary in 12^th over bowled by Lea when she got width and sent the ball flying over short third for a boundary. Melie bowled the 13^th & as fearsome it would get, Nensi dropped an easy catch of Sarah Bryce in the 2^nd ball. Sarah gleefully cut the 3^rd ball in the off side gap for a boundary. As I like to type J.Kerr followed A.Kerr and Darcey who slowed down after power play got to her half century in the 2^nd ball. That over by Jess also saw SCO bring in some aggression as both Sarah & Darcey found a comfortable boundary each. Sophie Devine was entrusted the 15^th over and she wasted no time as she got Sarah leg before first ball which was so clear that Sarah didn’t review. Alice joined Darcey and the duo already had a great partnership in the tournament. The partnership was very short lived this time as Alice tried to lift Sophie for a leg side boundary could just find Melie at long on. Sophie’s 15^th over saw 2 wickets for 2 runs and gave NZ an edge. Nensi came for the 16^th & her first 3 balls were 3 singles. SCO got to their 100 in the 2^nd ball. Nensi found a wicket in the 4^th ball. Megan Mccoll’s attempt to sweep a ball straying leg side proved clumsy as the ball hit the bottom of her bat and then the stumps. SCO were 102/5 with the four death overs to go. In the 10 overs after power play, SCO scored just 57 and lost 5 wickets. The NZ bowling unit did a good collective job and bowled NZ back to advantage.

SEIZING THE ADVANTAGE
Sophie was entrusted the 17^th and she conceded 7 runs in the over. Nensi was given the 18^th and SCO got a couple of boundaries in an over after quite some time. Priyanaz pulled one to the leg side while Darcey danced down to deposit one in the cow corner. Melie came in to bowl the penultimate over and began with a vociferous LBW appeal against Priyanaz. DRS ruled that the ball was missing stumps by a whisker. Priyanaz was restricted with 2 dot balls before Melie shouted an even confident appeal. It was given and Priyanaz reviewed it this time. She wasn’t two time lucky as DRS ascertained that the ball was hitting the middle stumps. Another dot ball later, Melie had Pippa Sproul snicking one straight to Jess at mid off. It was a double wicket maiden over and it is happening frequently in the World Cup. And as I like to type, Pippa was c J Kerr by A Kerr. Sophie came to close the innings and didn’t concede any extras or boundaries. Darcey ran four twos and couple of singles with Rachel Slater for company. SCO closed their innings at 131/7, an under whelming score. Given their start, they were expected to cross 150 easily but NZ bowlers restricted them well. Even by their poor form in this World Cup, NZ were expected to chase this easily.

NEW ZEALAND INNINGS

SCOTLAND POWER AT PLAY

For NZ, Melie Kerr surprisingly opened the innings with Isabelle Gaze. Kirstie Gordon took the opening honours for SCO. Kirstie bowled 3 dots and gave 3 singles as SCO started well. It only got better when Kathyrn coming in from the other end had Melie snick one to Darcey at mid on. In both the innings, the skippers got each other out. Izzy Sharp was promoted and the two Izzys at crease had to ensure that NZ didn’t have a dizzy powerplay. Kathyrn’s 4 run over was followed by another tight 4 run over by Rachel. Hannah Rainey was the 4^th bowler as she bowled the 4^th over. NZ finally found 2 fours in the 4^th over as Izzy carted the 2^nd & 5^th balls with power on the leg side. Kathyrn produced nearly and action replay of Melie’s wicket in the 2^nd ball. Izzy Gaze trying to go over mid on ended up gifting another catch to Darcey. Sophie Devine came second down and played two dots before finding a single. On the brighter side for NZ, Izzy Sharp steered a lovely drive of the last ball for a boundary between cover and point. Rachel bowled a beautiful in swinger from around the wicket in the first ball of the 6^th over and even veteran Sophie had no answer and saw it breach through her defence. Brooke Halliday and Izzy sharp saw off the over with ones and twos. NZ were in trouble after power play with their scorecard reading 31/3 and three of their best batters back in the pavilion. Brooke & Izzy had a very good partnership last match and they needed to forge a better one to bail out NZ.

SHARP AND HOLY
Kirstie was entrusted the 7^th over and Darcey was bestowed the 8^th over. Despite Izzy finding a boundary in each of the overs, NZ scored only 12 from the 2 overs. Fraser’s 9^th over was without extras and boundaries and NZ had only 6 on board. Izzy once again found a boundary in the 10^th over bowled by Darcey, a reverse sweep for a boundary. NZ needed a reversal of fortunes at half way mark. They scored 57 in the first 10 and needed a reversal 75 before the next 10. Izzy & Brooke were finding their feet and they had to find boundaries before the SCO found their wickets. Hannah bowled the 11^th over and kept bowling short and at leg. NZ could score just 7 runs. Izzy hammered Katherine over mid on in the 3^rd ball of 12^th over for another boundary but still only 8 came from the over. Kirstie closed the 13^th over without extras or boundaries and the NZ duo ran hard for 7 runs. Kathyrn who looked the best bowler for SCO kept them in check in the 14^th over as well conceding only 4 runs. Hannah brought some relief to NZ camp in the next over when Brooke finally found two boundaries on the leg side and NZ had a double digit over after quite some time. In the next over bowled by Katherine, Izzy and Brooke found a boundary each and another 12 run over. Izzy & Brooke helped NZ recover from 31/3 to 107/3 in the middle overs. They ensured that no wicket and thereby no gain in momentum. They were also able to score 76 valuable runs by running hard, waiting for the bad balls and putting the bad ones away. They took NZ to safety as NZ now just needed to score at a run a ball in the final four overs.

WELL EARNED VICTORY
Kirstie was entrusted the 17^th over and she made a heartfelt appeal in the 2^nd ball for a LBW against Izzy. Even a long DRS review couldn’t help as DRS ruled in favour of Izzy as the ball wasn’t sharp enough to reach the stumps. Izzy celebrated it with boundaries of successive balls. The first boundary (a pull between long on and deep mid wicket) brought her half century and the next one (straight over the bowlers head) ensured NZ were free from any nerves. Rachel was assigned the 18^th over and in her 3^rd ball, Izzy creamed one back Rachel’s head for a sixer. Rachel brought out another lovely inswinger and Izzy (wanting to finish the match with a sixer) didn’t connect and found her middle stump shattered. Maddy Green walked in and effortlessly reverse pulled the 5^th ball for a boundary. With just NZ needing just a run, Rachel’s yorker in the last ball took them to another over. A wide yorker from Kathyrn later, Brooke ran a leg bye as NZ won by 6 wickets and 10 balls to spare. Kudos is due to NZ for overcoming the initial jitters and closing the relatively low target. SCO dominated the power play in both batting and bowling. But they couldn’t hold on to their advantage. This once again makes a case for more cricket for associate nations with the big cats.

Images Courtesy – ESPN Cricinfo.