Mumbai: England rode on captain Charlotte Edwards’ unbeaten century to beat New Zealand by four wickets and finish third in the ICC Women’s World Cup here on Friday.
Chasing a modest 221 for victory, Edwards played a captain’s knock, scoring an unbeaten 106 off 121 deliveries with the help of 15 fours, to take England to 222-6 in 47 overs.
Apart from Edwards, Lydia Greenway (31), wicket-keeper Sarah Taylor (28) and Arran Brindle (27) also made useful contributions with the bat to guide England home.
Off-spinner Lucy Doolan was the most successful bowler for New Zealand scalping three wickets for 50 runs, while pacer Sian Ruck picked up two for 20 runs.
Earlier sent into bat, Amy Satterthwaite struck a fluent 85 to guide New Zealand to 220 for eight.
Left-arm spinner Holly Colvin shone with the ball for England, picking up three wickets for 31 runs while Aaran Brindle (2-38) dismissed two Kiwi batters.
England’s chase, however, did not start on a good note as the defending champions lost opener Danielle Wyatt (5) early.
Edwards, who became the first woman cricketer to amass 5,000 runs in ODIs, and Taylor then forged a 78-run second-wicket stand, before Taylor was caught off Doolan’s bowling.
The English skipper then added 53 runs with Greenway when a brilliant diving catch by New Zealand captain Suzie Bates cut short Greenway’s stay.
All-rounder Brindle then shared a 58-run stand for the fourth wicket with Edwards to take England closer before they lost wickets in quick succession to be reduced to 202 for 6.
But Edwards and Laura Marsh held fort and saw England home without any further trouble.
Sri Lanka finish 5th
Meanwhile, also in Mumbai, Sri Lanka defeated South Africa by 88 runs in the fifth place play-off.
After winning the toss and choosing to bat first, the Lankans made 244-7 with Chamari Atapattu top-scoring with 52.
South Africa were then bowled out for 156 in 40.1 overs. Shandre Fritz (54) contributed the most in an otherwise poor batting display.
Shashikale Siriwardene took 4-31 for Sri Lanka. (PTI)