NZ Women vs ENG Women, 19th Match at Auckland, Women's World Cup, Mar 20 2022 - Match Result

The hosts are almost out and the race for the semis just gets hotter. This 2022 #CWC is turning out to be memorable for the number of close games it has produced. Tomorrow we have Pakistan v West Indies. Another crucial game. We will be there nice and early. Thanks for the comments. Catch up on all the reaction and the report by Sudarshanan. On behalf of Ekanth, who again did a stellar job in the first innings, and our scorer George Binoy, signing off from here. Sleep tight and take care. See you soon. Bye.

A stat before we sign off: Only the second time a team won by one wicket in a Women's World Cup. The first such instance was by Sri Lanka against England in 2013.

murali: "England's two remaining matches are against BD and Pak. On paper, they will win those. India has to play BD and then the final match of the playoffs is with SA. So the last semi final berth may well come down to the very last match!!"

PCN: "With this loss NZ is virtually our of the race for too 4. Looking at remaining matches, there is gonna be 2 or 3 teams with 8 points. With ENG return to form and their remaining matches being with take tail, their NRR will easily surpass the rest. I don't see a way for IND to qualify unless there is an upset. It's going to be AUS, SA, WI, ENG "

Pritam: "Producing thrillers is now a routine this Women's World Cup. "

Heather Knight: We do. We are sticking to the tradition of the tournament. Credit to the Kiwis, they fought so hard and made it interesting in the end, just relieved to get over the line. Shouldn't have got so close but today was all about getting the win and luckily we did that. We knew it was a must-win game and the way the bowlers responded to getting them off to a good start was outstanding. We have got to be better. Top-order myself included one has to go on and finish the job. The conditions changed with the weather. She is a wicket-taker which is sometimes rare for an offspinner [Charlotte Dean]. She goes for runs but also very attacking and threatening which we want her to do. She has been brilliant and picked up wickets at key times. Chuffed for her, she has come in and done really well. There's a bit of relief there and we will take being on the right side of the result and reflect on what we could have done better. We are building nicely, we have got players performing quite well. Kate Cross was outstanding, Nat Sciver with the ball, the two spinners in particular. Still hasn't clicked for us yet, we have still not put in our best cricket and hopefully that is to come. We have got two massive and must-win games to make it to the semis.

Sophie Devine: I'd always want to be there, so incredibly proud of the girls to take it where they did. We knew we were 40-50 short on that wicket. It was hard watching from the sidelines. We were talking last night about what it was to be playing in front of Eden Park. The girls are gutted but that's cricket. We lost 3 games by 2-3 wickets or a couple of runs here and there. If we win those, we are probably looking at a different story. We have time now to look back and reflect on what we could have done differently. But the difficult thing is that there's probably a billion things we could've done differently over the course of the last 3-4 weeks but there's so many positives to take out. We have one more game left and we will get up for it as it will be our last opportunity to make New Zealand proud. Something really special about this group is that there's a real high level of care with this group, we genuinely like each other even though we might bicker at things like family. We love each other and this group might not be together once this tournament is over. We will enjoy the last couple of days together and make sure we got out with a bang. Lea's hamstring played up again - she has been managing it for the last couple of weeks. My back is what it is - it has happened before, hopefully it is fine tomorrow. Probably a hint I'm getting old and time to move on but injuries happen and we have got to grin and bear it. Fingers crossed we can make it to the last game.

Sciver: Did not realise how much it was raining until I got off the pitch, conditions changed a little bit, it added some pace and really turned the pressure on us. It's about partnerships, one of us seeing it through - unfortunately neither of us did that and left it to the cool ice that is Anya Shrubsole. It's crazy and we got over the line in the end, which we shouldn't have I guess. It's very hard out on the bench, way better in the middle. I'm just in shock really, there have been so many close games in the tournament and another one today. Usually I would be more nervous and get on with it a bit more, but knew I had to do most of the scoring and be there for a long time. I did not really mind facing too many balls. Definitely, was pretty tough bowling with the windy conditions, difficult wicket to find consistency, but happy with that.

Nat Sciver is the Player of the Match.

Ajit Agranayak : "Why not get McKay to bowl that 48th? She was on a roll with an over in hand. Captain will feel the pinch on that one....."

Sushant: "Isn't the points table looking so interesting! 4 teams still running to make up for the final 2 spots in semis. "

Dave Fern: "Well done England, but why do you have to always give your fans heart attacks like that? Sailing along comfortably, then lost quick wickets, then it could have gone either way. So tense - I guess that's why we love sport!"

Abhinav : "These thrillers are proving that almost all teams except Australia are more or less equally strong/ weak. No team is clear favourites and you should never lose hope until last ball "

6.07pm: Shrubsole punches the air in delight while tears for Mackay. Two ends of the spectrum. England almost choked to lose but Shrubsole took the side home. England made it difficult for themselves after the Sciver-Dunkley stand with the pressure piled on by Mackay and some questionable decision-making from the batters. The conditions changed as well with the rain break, which made the ball skid on more. Earlier on in the chase, England were never against the rate as the target was low which allowed Sciver to play dots regularly. New Zealand were hit by the absences of Tahuhu (hamstring) and Devine (back) while Amelia Kerr was too short and did not make an impact. Yet they fought on and almost snatched victory out of nowhere. They are on the verge of elimination with a negative NRR and can get to a maximum of 6 points which should not be enough. England have two easier games left and they will be hopeful of making the semis. Do stay tuned for the presentation...

Except deep mid-wicket, everyone else in

England need 5 and they are ahead on DLS by the same margin. Halliday back on. Can she do it for New Zealand? The crowd getting into the act now. Bates has advice for Satterthwaite

Mackay will continue. Satterthwaite is setting the field. The rain's intensity has gone down a bit

Suddenly England look nervous and the crowd are right behind New Zealand. Rowe back on. Lots of discussions from the White Ferns. A slip in