Halliday revives New Zealand with sweeping success

For the third consecutive game in the 2025 Women's World Cup, New Zealand found themselves in strife. They were 38 for 3 and Bangladesh's spinners on top when Brooke Halliday walked in. It wasn't the first time they had relied on her to stabilise things this World Cup. Tentative at first, she scratched her way to 8 off 21 balls, probing forward, going back, trying to find her rhythm.

Then came the release.

Fahima Khatun floated one wide outside off, and Halliday pounced. A reverse sweep, perfectly placed past short third, for four to break the pressure. From there, she swept with authority - conventional, reverse, paddle - nullifying the threat of Bangladesh's spinners, who have been excellent all tournament. Her 69 off 104 balls became the backbone of New Zealand's first win of the competition.

It wasn't a shot pulled out on instinct. She has been trying to perfect the sweep over the past year. It was pivotal during her tour of India in late 2024, where she posted her career-best 86 in the third ODI in Ahmedabad, collecting 22 runs off 11 sweep shots, including two boundaries and a six. Earlier this week, against South Africa, she again turned to it, sweeping Chloe Tryon twice to the boundary during a 37-ball 45.

With New Zealand not playing an ODI in the last six months, Halliday spent the winter at the CSK academy in Chennai, honing the sweep against spin. Ahead of this clash, she worked with net bowlers to sharpen the shot. On Friday, all that prep came good.

"That [sweep] is something I did try and practice a lot in Chennai just with the turning ball," she said during the presentation, after collecting her Player-of-the-Match award. "The perks of the last couple of days is that we've had a lot of net bowlers who actually bowled quite similar to what we got today. Being able to figure out how we were going to play certain bowlers and then just today going out there and watching the ball and just having an idea of how things were going to go."

In a batting line-up stacked with right-handers, Halliday's presence as the lone left-hander was always going to be pivotal, especially against Bangladesh's spin-heavy attack featuring a left-arm spinner and two legspinners. Her ability to play the sweep and disrupt their rhythm proved invaluable.

With Sophie Devine at the other end, Halliday kept the scoreboard ticking. The left-right combination forced field changes and unsettled Bangladesh's bowlers. While Devine preferred hanging back and playing off the back foot, Halliday played sweeps of all kinds. The two added 112 for the fourth wicket, during which Halliday also passed 1000 career ODI runs.

Her third boundary of the day, against offspinner Nishita Akter Nishi, came with a paddle sweep. And when Shorna Akter tossed one into the slot, Halliday got down and slog-swept it for a six over midwicket. In all, according to ESPNcricinfo's data, she played 15 sweeps, scoring 29 runs off them. No batter at this World Cup has scored more runs via the sweep shots of all types than Halliday. She now has 45 off 21 deliveries with the shot, well ahead of India's Richa Ghosh, who has 28 off eight.

But the sweep remains a double-edged sword, also bringing her downfall. She was dismissed sweeping in Ahmedabad off Deepti Sharma, then again against South Africa off Nonkululeko Mlaba. On Friday, it was the same script: having just swept Fahima for four, she attempted the shot again, only to top-edge to the wicketkeeper.

"I've got out to it a couple of times now but I've also been able to hit a few runs with it," she said. "So there's a lot of perks with being able to expand my game and just get a little bit better."

New Zealand are headed to Colombo, where they play Pakistan and Sri Lanka, two more spin-heavy sides. Halliday hopes to take the learnings from her last two innings into those games.

"The biggest thing over the last couple of days after that last match was being okay with getting ones and being quite boring. I went out there again with Sophie, so we kind of knew what the plan was: to just try and bat for a very long time to that 40th over and then from there hopefully we can have a bit of a party time, which I failed to get to but Sophie was able to capitalise a little bit."

It wasn't just Bangladesh's spinners that Halliday had to negotiate. The heat and humidity in Guwahati added to the challenge. Dripping with sweat, she dug in for what turned into one of her most important ODI innings.

"It wasn't easy to bat out there," she said. "I think the mental side of it was very tough and then also the physical side kind of hit us a little bit later on. There was a time when Sophie and I both were going, 'Oh my goodness, single hitting is actually quite hard.' There's always a part of us that actually just wants to hit a boundary or two. Sophie is really clear and keeps it really simple, which kind of works for me."

Since her debut in 2021, Halliday has occupied the middle order quietly, operating under the radar in a side where the spotlight usually falls on Suzie Bates, Devine, or Amelia Kerr. But she has made a habit of standing up when it counts. Her 38 off 28 against South Africa in the 2024 T20 World Cup final was one such occasion. On Friday, she delivered again, batting New Zealand out of trouble to put their campaign back on track.