Well that's it from this match folks! Hop tabs to join our coverage from the Men's T20I between New Zealand and Pakistan from the Hagley Oval!
I am Anirudh Modi, signing off along with my co-commentator Karthik Raj, and our scorer/analyst Zeeshan Naiyer! See you on the next one.
Suzie Bates (New Zealand Captain): "(Most pleasing thing about the performance) How we responded after the first game. Bree Illing at such a young to take wickets upfront. Izzy Sharp who was disappointed after the last game came back to hit the winning runs. Those are good things to see. The main focus is welcome the youngsters, to make sure that they are not intimated. (On bowling out Bree Illing early) We have someone who is so good with the new ball, just wanted to make use of that. She is taking wickets, swinging the ball which is great to see. (About the crowd support) Love it, always love playing here. There was a decent crowd right from the start, the profile of the women's game continues to increase."
Chamari Athapaththu (Sri Lanka Women Captain): "They were all really good, they bowled according to the plan, especially in the first 6 overs and we lost 2 wickets. Eventually, there were not enough runs on the board.
The top-order needs to execute our plans and play fearless cricket. The youngsters are playing good cricket, one of them played well today and we hope she continues to contribute. We will play according to the conditions and bat fearlessly because 115 is not enough, we need to be around 140."
Suzie Bates (Player of the Match): "We were disappointed after the last game and were determined to come back strong. Our bowlers did superbly in the Powerplay. Brooke Halliday was outstanding and great to see Izzy Sharp hit the winning runs in front of such an awesome crowd. This whole group has benefited from playing Hallyburton Johnstone Shield and One-Day Cricket. At times, you tend to go too hard in T20 cricket. We had some options with Flora Devonshire coming in. Just wanted to hold her back against the left-hander. Grateful for her to get a wicket on debut."
Player of the Match: Suzie Bates
5:41 AM IST, 1:11 PM Local Time | Match Result | New Zealand Women cruise to victory in a low run-chase to level the series 1-1! They do so by defeating Sri Lanka Women by 7 wickets to save the series.
New Zealand Women won the toss and elected to bowl first and once Illing removed Gunaratne for a silver duck, the top order folded. By the end of the 10th over, Sri Lanka Women had 53/4 on the board. However, the duo of Nanayakkara and de Silva put together 55 runs for the 5th wicket and helped their team establish a total of 113/7 at the end of their 20 overs.
Bree Illing was the pick of the bowlers with 2/18 from 4 overs. While, Jess Kerr chipped in with a couple of wickets too.
Come the chase, Plimmer walked back without a review in the second over to give Sri Lanka Women their first breakthrough, but skipper Bates dropped anchor as the other batters played around her. Eventually, the skipper missed out on a half-century when Fernando took a sensational catch to end her knock at 47 runs off 46 balls.
With 30 odd runs remaining to chase, Brooke Halliday took over the mantle from her skipper and helped New Zealand Women cruise through the run-chase with an unbeaten 46 runs off 40 balls. Izzy Sharp kept her company, scoring 8 runs off 8 balls in front of her home crowd.
For Sri Lanka Women, Fernando, Achini and Sugandika all contributed with a wicket each, but it was not enough to stop their opponents from winning this encounter.
OVER 19
New Zealand Women
117/3
Izzy Sharp
8(8)
Brooke Halliday
46(40)
Achini Kulasuriya
1-11(2.3)
18.3 A Kulasuriya to I Sharp
4 IZZY SHARP FINISHES IT OFF IN STYLE! Length delivery outside-off, Sharp swings it superbly over mid-on for a boundary. That seals a convincing seven-wicket win with nine balls to spare!
18.2 A Kulasuriya to I Sharp
0 Low full-toss outside-off, Sharp walks down the track and drags it back to the bowler. No run.