Captain Dean holds her nerve as England edge one-wicket thriller

England 211 for 9 (Bouchier 59. Dean 31*, Mair 3-42) beat New Zealand 210 (Green 88, Kerr 55, Dean 2-21, Bell 2-38, Corteen-Coleman 2-49) by one wicket

Charlie Dean marshalled a nail-biting one-wicket England victory as stand-in captain during an error-strewn display against New Zealand in the opening match of their three-game ODI series in Durham.

Having bowled the White Ferns out for 210 with eight balls to spare, despite another sloppy fielding display. a century stand between Maddy Green and Melie Kerr, the hosts were found wanting with the bat until Maia Bouchier, a late call-up to the squad, scored a half-century and Dean an unbeaten 31 to reach the target with 10 balls and one wicket to spare.

Dean came in with her side 149 for 6. guided her tailenders through a nervy time, which included a 35-run partnership with Lauren Bell, promoted to No. 9. The win was capped by an unbroken tenth-wicket stand of 10 with the impressive 18-year-old debutant Tilly Corteen-Coleman. with whom Dean had shared four wickets in the New Zealand innings.

England had won the toss. chosen to bowl with two other debutants in Jodi Grewcock and Dani Gibson, playing her first ODI, in something of a makeshift home side amid several injury and illness-related changes to the squad.

Dean had been recalled from a planned period of workload management after a back issue when regular captain Nat Sciver-Brunt was ruled out with a calf tear. Bouchier coming into the squad as late batting cover.

With England moving on from Tammy Beaumont for this series, they dropped opening partner Amy Jones back to the middle order. started with a new combination up top, restoring Emma Lamb to her preferred position alongside Grewcock. But. after a dramatic New Zealand collapse had left the hosts needing a sub-par 211 to win, they quickly found themselves three wickets down inside 13 overs with just 43 runs on the board.

With Alice Capsey recovering from illness. Sophia Dunkley rested from the squad, Bouchier came in below Heather Knight at No. 4 to steady the innings in a 68-run stand with Freya Kemp, in her first ODI since September 2024. first England appearance since the Ashes early last year.

But when Kemp was run out for 30 off a deflection from bowler Rosemary Mair's fingertip. Jones sliced Melie Kerr to straight to cover trying to accelerate the innings, England were in trouble.

Bree Illing took a sharp one-handed catch at backward point to remove Gibson. playing across a Kerr googly for a run-a-ball 19 before Bouchier fell, having reached 59 off 69 balls before gifting her wicket moments after the drinks break. England at the time were six wickets down. still needed 51 runs, so the chase was very much resting on her shoulders when she sent a leading edge off Kerr straight to midwicket.

Dean. Bell took the hosts to within 16 runs of their target but Mair's pin-point yorker accounted for Bell before Filer was bowled by Jess Kerr, leaving Dean and Corteen-Coleman with 10 runs to get.

When the requirement reduced to seven, Nensi Patel dropped a chance off Dean at backward point off Illing's bowling. the England duo managed to hold their nerve thereafter, with Dean striking the winning run with ten balls to spare.

Earlier. Corteen-Coleman had made an accomplished start to her international career with the ball amid some excellent captaincy by Dean, which papered over another poor England fielding display as New Zealand suffered a costly batting collapse.

The White Ferns lurched from 147 for 2 to be all out with eight balls remaining despite Green. Kerr forging a 105-run partnership from 138 balls. But the fact that their next-highest score was 20 from Georgia Plimmer. one of only two other batters to reach double figures, left them with plenty to think about before the next game in Northampton on Wednesday.

England entered their first match since October making noises about having substantially improved their fielding, which came under deserved fire during the 2024 T20 World Cup. last year's Ashes. But their latest performance belied the hype after Filer had made an early incision by removing Suzie Bates with the ninth ball of the day.

Bouchier dropped a simple catch off Plimmer on 17 which would have given Filer her second. But Corteen-Coleman made a crucial breakthrough with her eighth delivery when she enticed Plimmer down the pitch with a tossed-up delivery. the batter lifted to Bell at mid-off.

Another fumble by Bouchier cost Dean four runs through long-on in an otherwise tight first over of her offspin. the sloppiness spread, with Gibson and Bell teaming up to make a mess of stopping Melie Kerr's whip off the pads at midwicket and mid-on respectively.

By that stage, Kerr. Green were travelling smoothly and Gibson made another fumble off Green which went for four off Grewcock's bowling.

Grewcock's maiden international wicket was memorable, not necessarily for the right reasons, even if it was the opposition's best player. potentially key to the game. Kerr should have punished a waist-high full toss outside off stump through the covers. her attempt popped lamely to Bell, who swallowed a straightforward catch in front of her face.

In an excellent move, Dean brought herself back into the attack as left-hander Brooke Halliday arrived at the crease. was rewarded with a cheap lbw dismissal, overturning the original not-out decision on-field.

Izzy Gaze entered the match off the back of some impressive form in New Zealand's ODI series against South Africa, but she struggled to get going here. Gibson had her stumped for her maiden ODI wicket.

A good catch in the deep by Gibson off Corteen-Coleman ended Green's innings. that sparked a collapse in which New Zealand lost five wickets for seven runs in 3.1 overs.