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Women's Cricket World Cup: England finish third

By Stephan ShemiltBBC Sport in Mumbai

Last updated on .From the section Cricketcomments63

Charlotte Edwards in action against New Zealand
Women's World Cup, third-place match, Mumbai
England 222-6 (47.0 overs) beat New Zealand 220-8 (50 overs) by four wickets
Match scorecardexternal-link

England ended a disappointing Women's World Cup campaign with a four-wicket victory over New Zealand in the third-place play-off in Mumbai.

Captain Charlotte Edwards hit an unbeaten 106 from 121 balls, becoming the first woman to pass 5,000 runs in one-day internationals, as England reached their target of 221 with three overs to spare.

Earlier, the Kiwis had been restricted to 220-8 despite 85 from Amy Satterthwaite, with left-arm spinner Holly Colvin taking 3-31.

The comfortable victory over the White Fearns, England's second in three days, vindicated the view of Edwards and coach Mark Lane that England have played their best cricket too late in this tournament.

The defending champions learned they had been knocked out in the early stages of Wednesday's 15-run Super Six win over Suzie Bates' side after West Indies beat Australia to book a repeat meeting in Sunday's final.

Following the exit, Edwards said that earlier errors had cost her side, with the defeats against Sri Lanka and Australia ultimately proving decisive.

But this was a dominant display, with the skipper leading from the front with the bat after the bowlers had done a good job of containing the Kiwis on a flat wicket.

Regularly cutting through the off side and working off her pads when the New Zealand bowlers got too straight, Edwards notched her eighth ODI century and fourth in World Cups.

She shared a second-wicket stand of 78 with Sarah Taylor, who again showed glimpses of her class before impatiently hitting a Lucy Doolan full toss to short mid-wicket when on 27.

Edwards then combined to add 53 with Lydia Greenway and 58 with Arran Brindle, who accelerated England towards their target before tamely patting Doolan to cover for 27.

That started a wobble that saw England lose three wickets for three runs, but Edwards stood firm, reaching three figures with a pull off Lea Tahuhu then watching on as Laura Marsh swept Doolan for the winning runs.

The ease of England's chase highlighted the good work done by the bowling attack, who, just as on Wednesday, were without the ill Anya Shrubsole.

Off-spinner Danielle Hazell came into the side and was tidy for her 1-42, while Jenny Gunn stepped up to take the new ball and responded by having Bates - the tournament's highest runscorer - caught a point.

However, after Frances Mackay was bowled playing across the line to Brindle for 30, it was Satterthwaite, scorer of a century in the last meeting between the two sides, who again proved to be the mainstay of the New Zealand innings.

Time and again the left-hander shovelled England's spinners through the leg side, steadying the Kiwis after they slipped to 99-4.

She added 59 with Katie Perkins, who was well stumped by Taylor off Hazell, and looked set to reach three figures after being put down by Edwards and surviving the tightest of run out decisions from a Heather Knight direct hit.

But Satterthwaite was denied when she was bowled round her legs by Colvin, the second wicket in as many balls for the reliable left-arm spinner.

At that point, New Zealand looked to have lost their way, but they were boosted by Doolan and Nicola Browne, who took 35 runs from the final three overs as England strangely opted against recalling the economical Gunn to the attack.

Still, the White Fearns looked at least 20 runs short of a par total, with England and Edwards proving as much.

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63 comments

  • Comment posted by greenlegend, at 11:41 15 Feb 2013

    Had the atrocious umpiring decisions in the group stages not happened, the complexion of the "Super Six" would have been completely different. A few England glitches did not help, of course, but some excellent individual performances came out of the tournament. And, some the next WWC, perhaps some of the negative posters here may just find it in their hearts to get behind our national side.

  • Comment posted by Chris, at 12:43 15 Feb 2013

    England played well for most of the tournament - just a few errors in key games cost them. Better tournament structure may have seen them through. 3rd place is a respectable result given the progress other countries are making.

  • Comment posted by BLRBrazil, at 15:42 15 Feb 2013

    @ 26; as England were probably the favourites going into the competition, 3rd may be considered a disappointment. But as in all top level sport, the margin between 'success' and 'failure' is a fine one and if one looks at the overall performance I think most of the girls can be pleased with what they achieved. I would guess England's women are in an even stronger relative position than the men.

  • Comment posted by Big_Massive, at 11:13 15 Feb 2013

    @Billy Shears

    You're not funny, just sad.

  • Comment posted by Complete and utter horse, at 14:07 15 Feb 2013

    19.HMMurdoch
    It's not just the pace, it's the extra bounce that the girls aren't used to. A military medium 3rd or 4th change bowler in my team (county club prem division) would be a bridge too far for them.

  • Comment posted by tom, at 11:17 15 Feb 2013

    It's a shame they never made it to the final, but that's sport. Would have made for a great final against Aus.

    It was the heroics by the SL batswomen in their opening match that ultimately done for them.

  • Comment posted by User0843952551, at 15:19 15 Feb 2013

    27

    "MUFC TID"

    This is a cricket thread you clown.

  • Comment posted by hmmurdoch, at 14:06 15 Feb 2013

    @20: Oh I would love a chance to bowl at that little toad. I'd definitely give him a reason to fall over....

    5 times..... is that how many times LFC will win this season?

    I'd say go back to posting on a subject you know about, but as you are a LFC fan, that means you'll have to dodge football as well...

    YAWN

  • Comment posted by hainba, at 13:13 15 Feb 2013

    @10 Think everyone assoc with women's cricket is bored with comparisons. Technically they are good players Brindle has shown there are women who will test their skills in mens game. As for getting hurt, that can happen to any player who steps up. This happens to be highest level for womens team and we should support them. Bowlers will use their full to get a batsman out, but this is not bodyline.

  • Comment posted by D1685645093238, at 12:27 15 Feb 2013

    Well done.
    You can't answer "What went wrong?" without mentioning the competition format.
    A competition format should always avoid putting a team in a position in which winning is against their interest. Excepting unusual circumstances, this is possible to ensure with the format. Learn from the world's most successful tournament - One group stage - then knock-out rounds.

  • Comment posted by User0990584382, at 11:58 15 Feb 2013

    Well played girls.

  • Comment posted by User0843952551, at 12:41 15 Feb 2013

    Good individual performances, especially from Edwards and Shrubsole, but I just feel they got their tactics wrong, especially against Sri Lanka and Australia.

    3rd place still a good result and with a different, more sensible format, they could easily have gone on to win it.

  • Comment posted by User0471598802, at 21:52 15 Feb 2013

    It was interesting to hear Clare (have I got that right) Conner during the commentary, that the ICC women's committee will be discussing various topics during their debrief from the WC; it's structure included. I am not accusing anyone, but it does seem possible to 'engineer' a weaker opponent for the final once you've already booked your ticket. Is that fair? Whatever, well done girls.

  • Comment posted by Barnicle247, at 15:25 15 Feb 2013

    LOL you muppet. I am not a MUFC fan. I was taking the piss out of 5 times YNWA.

    Pay attention

  • Comment posted by User0306316859, at 16:02 15 Feb 2013

    I hope our women are going to be paid properly now after the truly embarrassing pittance they were paid before, and let's hope they fly home at least in business class. They do us proud.

  • Comment posted by U14821909, at 15:40 15 Feb 2013

    Superb effort by our girls who are probably gutted they have not made the final.
    They murdered one of the finalist and without being too biased, seem to be far and away the best team in the competition.

    Anyway there time is done and I have thoroughly enjoyed the BBC coverage of how our girls have been faring.

    Good luck to the 2 teams in the final and may the best team win.

  • Comment posted by me, at 00:47 17 Feb 2013

    seperate page for womens cricket please. no1 cares. thought fidel edwards had turned english and turned englands cricket team to third place in odi's then i saw what it was. move these non descript headlines so proper cricket fans dont have to see please.

  • Comment posted by User0821629907, at 13:25 15 Feb 2013

    The standard overall of women's cricket is getting better all the time, particularly in the area of fast bowling, but one area that is not clear is the ability/competence of women batsmen to play hostile fast bowling of genuine quality. Australia have the advantage now over over teams in women's cricket as they have 2 tall quick fast bowlers.

  • Comment posted by Barnicle247, at 14:56 15 Feb 2013

    @20.

    Luis couldn't even kick a ball 10 times the size of a cricket ball properly last night so what makes you think that I have no idea.

    Everyone who says YNWA is an absolute mug. They walk alone all the time because they're awful.

    MUFC TID

  • Comment posted by User0450302425, at 11:55 15 Feb 2013

    @Nightwol. If the umpiring decisions had been better, we still wouldn't have played Australia in the final, it would have been West Indies

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