The New Zealand WHITE FERNS have taken an historic 5-0 ODI sweep against Sri Lanka after another convincing win in the inaugural bilateral Series, winning the fifth encounter by eight wickets at a crisp Hagley Oval.
Scorecard
Canterbury spinner Erin Bermingham took a career-best 4-16 as the WHITE FERNS turned the heat up on the visitors — stand-in skipper Chamari Athapaththu having elected to bat before both teams observed a minute's silence for Buddhist monk and social activist Maduluwawe Sobitha Thera, whose passing has been mourned by Sri Lanka.
By drinks the visitors were 42/3 as the Sri Lankan line-up struggled against the WHITE FERNS attack, but clung on for 47.5 overs in the face of sustained pressure as they ground their way to 99 all out.
The WHITE FERNS’ pace attack quickly overcame the cream of the Sri Lankan order, left-handed opener Prasadani Weerakkody providing the most resistance with a 55-ball 27 until she was stopped by an outstanding reflex catch from Katie Perkins at short leg, off Anna Peterson, to have Sri Lanka on edge at 4-48 in the 19th over.
Bringing herself on as first change had already provided immediate results for captain Suzie Bates (2-8 off four overs), who snaffled a wicket in each of her first two overs.
Peterson (2-9) and Sophie Devine (2-20) were the other contributors to the wickets column, while young opening pace bowler Hannah Rowe bowled well without reward for a lean 0-16 off her 10 overs.
Quick hands from Rachel Priest stumps Perera off Erin Bermingham
With the regular top order having utterly dominated proceedings earlier in the series, the WHITE FERNS opted to send out Devine (26) and Sara McGlashan (39) for an airing, to open the chase.
Devine was caught and bowled by Ama Kanchana just one run shy of what would have been their 50-run stand.
After McGlashan followed her back to the pavilion with a quick 39, it was left to Perkins to collect the winning runs in just the 18th over.
Katie Perkins secures the win
Bermingham was named player of the match, and a special presentation was made during the postmatch formalities of the hat-trick ball from the opening ODI match to Sri Lanka's Inoka Ranaweera.
The ODI Series win, ahead of three impending Twenty20 Internationals that will complete the tour, was the first trophy at home for WHITE FERNS coach Haidee Tiffen.
Tiffen said afterwards that she was “very proud” of the way the team had competed throughout.
“There have been some excellent individual performances every game, milestones and significant team records broken. Our top order stood out, and the batters responded to the wake-up call they had received at the hands of New Zealand Women A in our warmup game.
“In hindsight, that loss was a blessing in disguise that provided clarity to our players in their plans, the top order in particular. A reminder to focus on our partnerships — and we certainly dominated and succeeded in that area in this Series.”
The WHITE FERNS and Sri Lanka will be back at Hagley Oval on Sunday to play the first Twenty20 International, in which the New Zealanders will debut their magenta playing uniform, unveiled by New Zealand Cricket today.
“We’re looking forward to that and we’re really excited about the momentum we have now, heading into the T20s,” said Tiffen.
“It’s a different game, and we do need to switch focus now to T20 cricket, but we’re excited about continuing to play a brand of cricket that we started in India in July [where the WHITE FERNS beat India 2-1] as we continue looking to build towards the ICC World Twenty20 in March.”
In the meantime, captain Suzie Bates said they would take the rest of the day off to celebrate a “special and historical series".
"The whole Series we’ve had different players stand up with personal bests, from Rachel Priest to Morna Nielsen to Erin today, so it’s really nice to be able to take some time now to enjoy that and celebrate those achievements," said Bates.
"Dominating with bat and ball has been really pleasing for the start of our summer.”
The first Twenty20 International starts 2pm at Hagley Oval on Sunday, entry is free.
