ENG-W vs NZ-W: Sophie Devine leads White Ferns' magnificent comeback to level series 1-1

Match overview

New Zealand women scripted a dramatic comeback in the second T20I of the ongoing three-match series to secure a 14-run win over England at the St Lawrence Ground in Canterbury on May 23. Amelia Kerr's decision to bat first looked like going pear-shaped as Linsey Smith wreaked havoc with the ball inside the powerplay. 

Lauren Bell drew first blood for England as she dismissed wicketkeeper batter Isabella Gaze on the last ball of the first over. Charlie Dean then lobbed the ball to Smith, who struck twice in her first over to leave the tourists in tatters. Smith came back to bowl the fourth over and dismissed Brooke Halliday to reduce New Zealand to 11/4.

Linsey Smith gets two wickets in her first over 🤯

We have the White Ferns 5-3 🔥 pic.twitter.com/lrYoyngvvU

— England Cricket (@englandcricket) May 23, 2026

It was going to take a herculean effort to rescue them from such a slump, and it came from the pair of Sophie Devine and Maddy Green (56 off 48). They added 159 runs for the fifth wicket and led a magnificent fightback. They guided the White Ferns to 170 as Player of the Match (POTM), Devine (87 off 57) fell on the last ball of the 20th over.

Smith was the pick of all the English bowlers. She returned figures of 3/25 at an exceptional economy rate of 6.25 per over.

In reply, Sophia Dunkley added 31 runs in 3.3 overs with her opening partner Alice Capsey before she was outdone by off-spinner Nensi Patel. Capsey then added 45 for the second wicket with Maia Bouchier before Kerr cleaned the opener up.

The hosts lost Bouchier and Heather Knight on consecutive balls in the 16th over, and England could never really recover from the double whammy as they fell short despite having four wickets in hand.

Top run-scorer of the match

Top wicket-taker of the match

Player of the Match

Sophie Devine

Devine was very circumspect in the beginning, but changed gears as soon as she got her eye in. She struck five boundaries and six maximums, batting at a strike rate of 152.63. She gave an exhibition on power-hitting and took the game away from England's grasp.

Turning Point

There were two turning points in the game. The partnership between Devine and Green set up the game for the tourists. If it weren't for them, New Zealand would have been bundled out for a paltry total.

The double whammy in the 16th over of England's innings was when the game completely turned in favour of the visitors.

What the captains said

Winning Team Captain, Amelia Kerr (NZ-W)

Yeah, I guess when you're maybe four down in the power play, you're thinking you're not in a good position at all. And then for Sophie and Maddy to have that huge partnership and the way they played, it gave us a real chance. And, yeah, it was incredible to watch. I think we've been in this position before in the last ODI series against South Africa. We were three for three and still posted 300. So, although, you know, that game and today we lost early wickets and were in a spot of bother, we can, I guess, build a partnership and still have the confidence that we get that deep and we can still post a big score. I think when games get tense and close like that and there's some good ball striking where you need sixes and we're catching those ones on the boundary, it helps. And we've done a lot of work on our fielding with Craig McMillan, our fielding coach. So, it's something we really want to pride ourselves on and know that to win tournaments and to win games of cricket, fielding is so important.

Losing Team Captain, Charlie Dean (ENG-W)

I guess losing from such a brilliant position always hurts. But I mean, credit to Sophie and Maddy and how they batted. And yeah, I guess it shows how having set batters in the last 10 towards the death, it really matters in T20 cricket. And I think we're in a good position to chase that down, actually. But losing a couple of wickets at crucial times and we didn't quite get there. I felt like we needed to get one more wicket and we could really be through. But, yeah, it's hard to bowl three straight in the power play for anyone, even with Linsey's brilliant quality. So, yeah, I guess I'll reflect on the changes I made, but, yeah, I think I'm pretty happy and they played really well.