Player of the Match
Player of the Match

That's it for our coverage for today. The second game is on the 15th. Do join us for that one. Hope you enjoyed the game and thanks for all the feedback. Keep them coming in. The IPL auction will start in Bangalore in a short while and the live blog is up and running. Do head over there to follow everything. Until next time, on behalf of Srinidhi and our scorer Vairavan, signing off from here. Stay safe and take care. Ta, ta!

Sophie Devine: It's great to see Suzie Bates scoring runs out in the middle. We spoke about wanting to play good cricket for extended periods of time and we did that today. Hitting 150 after 30 and having wickets in the shed we have spoken about it for a long time. Disappointing to leave 12 balls at the end, who knows what we could've got. Still room for improvement. Bowling into the wind was hard, it was going to be short, sharp rotations. Hannah Rowe probably did not start too well but the way she came back into the wind, that's what we want from this group - people who can adapt on the go. Really pleased with our whole bowling effort.

Mithali Raj: We definitely had a preparation camp, but there has been a huge gap between coming into New Zealand with extended quarantine in Mumbai and here as well. It is important to get used to the conditions, it's in a way good that we are playing as series before the World Cup. We definitely made a comeback in the later half of the first innings. It took time for the bowlers to get used to the windy conditions, because there was a lot of breeze in the middle. The spinners are experienced a lot and they used that to make a comeback in the innings. We should be able to score 270 because that's the standard now in Women's cricket. We are missing Smriti Mandhana and having an experienced batter in the side helps to chase a big target but it's an opportunity for the others in the side to sort of show their game. We need to have a certain run-rate to maintain through the innings, so were able to score at least around 250 or 270 whether we bat first or chase.

Bates: It is a pretty special day, nice to start off the series with a win. Last summer the group was disappointed with how we started. We want to make sure we compete in every game throughout this series and leading into to the World Cup. Proud of the way the team stood up but we have to keep the momentum going. That's the nice thing about coming off a domestic season, we have played at this ground, had three innings out here, know the conditions well. Just being able to spend more time in the middle, you know what sort of a tempo you have to play at. Anytime when a new batter came in, I felt there was no scoreboard pressure which allowed me to just bat. That's the blueprint we want to stick to. I thought our bowlers started off really well in the powerplay on a good wicket. Olivia [Bates' sister] thinks she is bad luck, whenever she turns on the telly, she thinks I score no runs. I try to tell her it is not something to do with her. She will be pleased that she's turned up, nice to have some family and play close to home.

Suzie Bates is the Player of the Match for her 11th ODI ton.

Nandhana: "A balanced team in my opinion- Smriti, Shafali, Jemimah, Harmanpreet, Yastika/Richa, Mithali, Deepti, Jhulan, Poonam Yadav, Pooja Vastrakar, Shikha Pandey/Sneha Rana. Also, India should look at Yastika as a keeper (got good reflexes) and should make use of all rounding options - Kaur, Jemimah and Smriti"

Kapil Baldawa: "@Nandhana: If u can't start the innings going after 15 balls, u shouldn't be playing at this level, especially when u r chasing 275 n secondly, it's her role to go big, so she is the one who has to take the game to opposition but she fails to often. Being in form in WBBL n local tournaments doesn't help when you can't replicate that for your country"

6.05pm: Familiar story for the Indian batting lineup. After the openers fell early, Yastika and Mithali forged a partnership which kept India in the game but the left-hander's wicket pushed the rate up and soon the Indian skipper got out. Harmanpreet failed once more and the rate was too high for the lower-order batters to realistically hope of winning the game. The Kerr sisters took 5 wickets and were involved in the dismissal of Mithali Raj. A comfortable win for New Zealand and they go up 1-0 in the five-match series. Stay tuned for the presentation...

49.4
W
JM Kerr to Gayakwad, OUT, Jess Kerr finishes off the game with a four-fer. Length ball on off, Gayakwad whips across the line but inside-edges it back on. New Zealand win the game by 62 runs

RS Gayakwad b JM Kerr 0 (1b 0x4 0x6) SR: 0.00

49.3
W
JM Kerr to Poonam Yadav, OUT, superb catch by Martin standing up. Floaty full ball on the stumps, Poonam makes room and gets a thin nick, great glovework to come up with the catch

Poonam Yadav c †Martin b JM Kerr 3 (8b 0x4 0x6) SR: 37.50

Nandhana: "Am surprised that no one is even mentioning about Radha Yadav. Also, for all those who don't follow domestic cricket, I can recommend a power hitter to compliment Harmanpreet Kaur --- Esha Oza, search her up, plays for Mumbai alongside Jemimah"

49.2
1
JM Kerr to Goswami, 1 run, well outside off, Jhulan bottom-edges the big shot, it hits Martin's pads and rolls away
49.1
0
JM Kerr to Goswami, no run, full outside off, Jhulan slogs and misses

IND Women 2nd innings Partnerships

WktRunsPlayers
1st13S MeghanaShafali Verma
2nd4YH BhatiaShafali Verma
3rd88M RajYH Bhatia
4th25M RajH Kaur
5th9H KaurRM Ghosh
6th25DB SharmaRM Ghosh
7th26DB SharmaP Vastrakar
8th11J GoswamiP Vastrakar
9th12J GoswamiPoonam Yadav
10th0J GoswamiRS Gayakwad