The same old story as England women lose again

The one day series between the New Zealand and England is taking the appearance of one of those tales that old cricketers tell: the same story a little more exaggerated each time. It goes like this. England bat first, fail to make enough of a score, New Zealand knock them off.

Given that this pattern was already apparent England's decision to bat on winning the toss was a surprise. Their team was unchanged from the defeat at Auckland on Thursday. New Zealand replaced Katrina Keenan with Helen Watson.

The first overs of the England innings set the pattern for what followed. The bowling was tight, the batting cautious. Only ten runs came from the first nine overs for the loss of Connor, lbw to one that nipped back off the seam from Rachel Pullar. Since being handed the poisoned chalice of the England captaincy in mid tour Connor has scored only 24 runs in four internationals.

The other opener, Claire Taylor, had scored only four by the thirteenth over when frustration overcame her. Attempting a cross bat swipe off Ramel, she spooned a catch to Campbell at mid on.

Charlotte Edwards timed the ball well until her leg stump was removed by a Tiffen delivery that came in from the off when she was on 11. She was not the last England player to be playing back when the slowness and movement of the pitch suggested that she would be better off on the front foot.

Nicky Shaw cover drove the first boundary of the innings in the sixteenth over, following it with another straight away, before becoming as becalmed as the rest of the top order. Shaw fell in an unfortunate manner, treading on her stumps in the process of pulling Emily Drumm.

That Drumm (two previous overs in the series) chose to put herself on as early as the twenty first over showed that with the series already won she was going to take the chance to experiment. Her leg breaks were sometimes eccentric of line but claimed a second victim when Debbie Hockley took a fine catch, turning and diving full length at silly point off the bat and pad of Laura Newton.

Kathryn Leng was the only English batsman to try to take the game to the New Zealand bowlers, but those who were more cautious might say that it got her out, as Pullar caught a hard hit drive off her own bowling.

Jane Cassar had come in at the fall of the third wicket. With Reynard and Holden out quickly and the score on 78-8 it was up to her to use up the overs and to take England to the outer edges of respectability. She did this well, producing the best batting of the innings, placing the ball well to keep the score moving. Clare Taylor provided excellent support, the pair putting on 38 for the ninth wicket, the best partnership of the innings.

Rachel Pullar was the pick of the bowlers, her brisk, testing seam bowling earning figures of 10-2-15-3. Seven bowlers were used, though any five would have got the job done. Catherine Campbell delivered a miserly eight overs of off spin for 12 runs, though none of the English batsmen thought of going down the pitch to her.

The New Zealand fielding matched the bowling effort, a particularly good example being set by Hockley and Campbell, the two (how shall we put it?) most experienced members of the side.

Though there was movement off the pitch for both spinners and seamers, especially from the town end, the England total was well below par for the fourth time in a row.

The New Zealand batting set about its task with all the aggression and confidence that England's had lacked. As with the Australian men chasing a similarly small total in Auckland yesterday, the approach was at times a bit too cavalier, and wickets fell.

Though England's bowling was not as consistently accurate as New Zealand's there was enough evidence to suggest that if they ever get to bowl first or have a decent total to play with they will pose a few problems. Lucy Pearson, the left arm opening bowler, got the ball swinging into the right hander and claimed two victims. Payne was lbw shuffling across while Drumm followed a ball down legside to be caught behind.

Dawn Holden, a slow left armer on her first tour, also impressed, bowling with a nice loop and considerable accuracy. She got Pulford stumped, lured into the charge.

With Rebecca Rolls (who had been promoted to open) also gone the Kiwis were 53-4 and by no means home and hosed. This brought together Kathryn Ramel and Haidee Tiffen who had each taken two wickets with accurate medium pace bowling earlier. They now put on 63 for the fifth wicket with good shot selection, placement and running. Tiffen looks a fine young cricketer. With a few more performances like this she can change her first name to Hadlee. Ramel was out just before the end, bowled by Shaw, who had earlier bowled an eleven ball over.

New Zealand won by five wickets with sixteen and a half overs to spare. Seeing them for the first time this season, the impression is of a competent, self-disciplined, well led team who will challenge Australia strongly for the World Cup on home ground in Christchurch later this year.

If England's sponsors happen to read this, they should rest assured that the England team is determined, hard working and with an outwardly good spirit. It is also clear that they are chronically short of confidence, especially with bat in hand. Two key players, Collyer and Redfern, should return to strengthen the side for the World Cup. Hard work is needed in the forthcoming series against South Africa.

With New Zealand leading four-nil the final game in the series takes place under the lights in Napier on Tuesday.