New Zealand 111 for 2 (Devine 51*, Kerr 21*, Bates 20) beat England 110 for 9 (Sciver 27, Jones 26, Jensen 3-24, Devine 2-11, Jonas 2-22) by eight wickets
An excellent bowling display by New Zealand and Sophie Devine's unbeaten half-century led them to the Commonwealth Games bronze medal as England were forced into fourth place.
England's Games dream as hosts was shattered the previous day at Edgbaston when India won their semi-final to earn the right to play Australia for gold and silver later on Sunday. New Zealand, meanwhile, overcame their disappointment of losing to Australia in the other semi-final just 12 hours earlier to run roughshod over England, who crumbled to 110 for 9 in their 20 overs.
Hayley Jensen finished with three wickets while Devine and Fran Jonas took two apiece as New Zealand reversed their hefty defeat to England in their last group-stage game. Devine then struck 51 not out to ease the team to victory with 49 balls to spare.
Wheels fall off England
New Zealand made a fine start to the contest when Danni Wyatt was out on the first ball of Jensen's opening over - the seventh delivery of the match - to a sharp catch by Suzie Bates at cover.
Alice Capsey, the youngster who has more than once lifted England after the loss of early wickets this summer, then edged Hannah Rowe behind to Isabella Gaze and England were 10 for 2 in the third over.
Nat Sciver restored the powerplay to respectable territory for England, however, cruising to 26 off 15 deliveries to make it 41 for 2 after six overs. But after adding just one more run to her score, Sciver saw her middle and off stumps flattened by a gem from Devine.
Bowling to bronze
When Jonas, who made her T20I debut earlier in the tournament, had Maia Bouchier out lbw attempting to sweep a fuller ball which struck her back leg, England slumped to 57 for 5 at the halfway point of their innings. Katherine Brunt then lofted Jonas straight down the ground and Maddy Green sat under the ball at long-on for a straightforward catch.
It was going to take something special from Sophie Ecclestone and Amy Jones to haul their side out of trouble and they took England to the 100-mark but that was as far as they got. Jensen bowled Jones and Issy Wong in the space of three balls, the former losing her middle stump and the latter falling to a textbook yorker that sent off-stump flying and had the home side in disarray.
Tempers fray
Before Jones and Wong fell, Ecclestone had pumped Lea Tahuhu for six over deep midwicket in a clear sign of her strength in England's lower middle order. But when Devine ripped out Ecclestone's off stump with an excellent fuller ball she had to depart for 18 off 21.
Ecclestone let her disappointment boil over when she reached the top of the stairs leading to the changeroom and smashed the back of a chair with her bat, knocking it over. It came after Brunt had received an official reprimand and one demerit point for using an audible obscenity when she had a catch off Deepti Sharma dropped the previous day as the pressure on the host nation began to show.
'Old' hands make light work
'Experienced' is a better word than 'old' to describe New Zealand's opening pair, Devine and Bates, who broke the back of their light run chase to reach 54 without loss inside the first five overs. Sarah Glenn took a blinder of a reflex catch, thrusting both hands above her head instinctively at short fine leg to remove Bates for 20 off just 10 balls pulling a short, leg-side delivery from Sciver but failing to beat Glenn's reaction time.
Devine had just moments earlier launched Sciver's first delivery over the rope at deep midwicket but then Georgia Plimmer - who made her international debut against Australia the previous evening - edged Freya Kemp to Sciver at slip via keeper Jones' glove. Devine remained in command though, raising her 39-ball fifty and levelling the scores by powering Wong to the deep midwicket boundary. In one last low for England, Devine skied the next ball and Sciver, running in to mid-on, let the catch slip through her fingers, the resulting single giving New Zealand the win.
