Shrubsole, Knight serve NZ a thrashing

England Women 61 (Edwards 32*) beat New Zealand Women 60 (Shrubsole 3-6, Knight 3-10) by eight wickets
Scorecard

Stifling spells by Anya Shrubsole and Heather Knight dismantled New Zealand's batting in the first of the three T20s in the series helping England Women to a crushing win in Whangarei. Only one of New Zealand's batsmen - Erin Bermingam - registered a double-digit score after the home side opted to bat before being bowled out for 60 in 19.4 overs.

Knight triggered the collapse with a three-wicket haul early in the innings. She struck with the first ball of her second over, then picked up two more wickets in her third to register here best T20 figures and leave New Zealand reeling on 11 for 4 after five overs. New Zealand's slide continued as Danielle Hazell's double-strike reduced them to 18 for 6 in the eighth over. An embarrassing end looming over, New Zealand's bottom order survived long enough to stretch the innings till the 20th over, but were not able to avert the disaster totally. Shrubsole picked up three of the last four wickets to end with figures of 3 for 6. The scale of England's dominance was such that only one boundary was hit in the innings.

England's reply didn't start in the most convincing fashion, with Lauren Winfield falling to Bermingham in the third over for 1. England captain Charlotte Edwards then stitched a 30-run partnership with Sarah Taylor and remained unbeaten on 32 to see the side through with 50 deliveries to spare.

New Zealand's coach Hamish Barton observed that the players found the transition from 50 over to cricket the T20 format a little challenging. "We didn't make the right decisions or execute our shots with the accuracy. We just got ourselves into a hole, and then couldn't get ourselves out," he added.