New Zealand Women 223 for 3 (Satterthwaite 119*, Amelia 72*) beat England Women 220 (Beaumont 88*, Knight 60, Amelia 4-42)
Amy Satterthwaite's seventh ODI century and a fine all-round display from Amelia Kerr carried New Zealand to a seven-wicket victory in the third ODI against England, ending a run off 11 consecutive defeats in the format.
During the course of her unbeaten 119, Satterthwaite became the third New Zealand batter to pass 4000 ODI runs and by the end was at the second place overall behind Suzie Bates having overtaken Debbie Hockley in the closing moments of the chase.
In a match that was played behind closed doors at University Oval after the Covid-19 alert level changes in New Zealand last night, England had been well placed on 115 for 1 but lost their way and fell 2.1 overs short of seeing out the 50 overs with Tammy Beaumont carrying her bat with her third half-century of the series.
Early in the chase, it appeared New Zealand's batting line-up could misfire again as both openers fell in single figures. Then Sophie Devine was lbw to Kate Cross to leave them 51 for 3.
However, Satterthwaite took charge alongside Amelia, who had earlier cleaned up England's tail to finish with 4 for 42, as an England attack without Katherine Brunt couldn't build pressure against the pair. Either side of bringing up her century from 120 balls, Satterthwaite deposited Sophie Ecclestone and Sarah Glenn for sixes.
After England opted to bat first Danni Wyatt's lean series ended when she was caught behind in the second over but Beaumont and Heather Knight added 109 to lay a solid platform. That changed when Knight was lbw to Amelia and a brisk start by Nat Sciver was cut off by Brooke Halliday.
New Zealand chipped away at the middle order with Devine striking twice as Beaumont started to run out of partners. Amelia's legspin was too much for the lower order as the last three wickets fell for five runs.
With her side having won the series 2-1, Knight, the England captain, said she was "definitely frustrated" at not having come away with a clean sweep.
"We were 30 runs short with the bat," Knight said. "I thought the Kiwis bowled brilliantly... it's a real learning for us as a side, as a batting unit when the pitch is a little bit slow and we've set that platform, you've got to find a way to be able to push on to get to that 250-260 consistently.
"The Kiwis were great in how they chased it down. Amy was outstanding, and Amelia as well. They were able to put us under pressure and with 30 runs short or so we had to search for wickets a little bit."
Knight was full of praise for Satterthwaite, whose century came four years - almost to the day - since her previous one, although she came close with 92 in an ODI against Australia in 2019. Since then, Satterthwaite has returned from maternity leave after giving birth Grace, her daughter with wife and team-mate Lea Tahuhu. Tahuhu suffered a hamstring injury in the first match, which ruled her out of the rest of this series.
"Four thousand ODI runs for her today as well," Knight said of Satterthwaite. "I know Amy pretty well... I know what a good player she is.
"I saw her at breakfast this morning with Grace on her lap and I was thinking how tough that would be to be having a baby and then be preparing for an ODI as well but she takes it in her stride, as does Lea. So congrats to her. She's a real example for them and a really good player for the Kiwis."
