A brief history of England v New Zealand
Jenny Thompson07-Feb-20081934-35The first tour was to be underrepresentative for England as the women, who had to agree not to smoke, drink or gamble or “be accompanied by a man”, had to fund themselves They still proved stronger than both Australia and then New Zealand for the first of only 45 Tests for the hosts; they no longer play this form. The hosts’ first showing was fairly forgettable, too, Myrtle MacLagan’s five wickets rolled their first innings for 44 and Joy Partridge reduced their second innings to 122 with four, England romping to victory by an innings and 337 runs after big centuries by Betty Snowball and Molly Hide.
Tests: New Zealand 0 England 1
1948-49The 1948-49 tour should have been the third or fourth for England’s women, but war got in the way in 1939. An ageing England – with four from the original party – went via Sri Lanka for a tour match, then Australia before heading to New Zealand, which took four days by sea, and four warm-up games later they were ready for the only Test, which they won by 185 runs, a considerably smaller thrashing than that meted out in the first Test four years earlier.
Tests: New Zealand 0 England 1
1954 This was New Zealand’s first visit to England and this series contained the only result of a Test between England and New Zealand in that country. England won one, the opener in Leeds, which proved enough to pick up the three-Test series 1-0. From then on all series in England were drawn with all of the other 12 matches ending in a draw.Tests: England 1 New Zealand 0
1957-58 A decade later, and England returned Down Under and had two draws against New Zealand and then three against Australia. As these were only three-day matches, however – with a rest day in the middle of most of them – it was pretty difficult for any team to force a result.
Tests: New Zealand 0 England 0
19661966 was a great year for English football and not a bad one for the women’s team, as they drew all three Tests against the visiting White Ferns to retain the series trophy for another series. In fact, it was never out of their possession in all the time New Zealand chose to play Tests. With three-day Tests throughout this series, a result could not be forced. Rachael Heyhoe-Flint was in her pomp, making a ton in the opener at Scarborough. After skittling them in the second match at Edgbaston for 131 and then making 275 themselves, England would have thought they were in with a chance, but a defiant 7 for 300 declared in the second innings left the match a draw with England way short of their 157-run target. New Zealand couldn’t quite hunt down the 84 needed from nine overs in the final Test at The Oval, their best chance of taking victory.
England 0 New Zealand 0
1968-69Enid Bakewell was England’s star against New Zealand and after the first draw, in the second match in Christchurch she made a century and 66 not out to take them home at a thrilling 4.07 runs per over in the second innings. Bakewell made two fifties in the third match as England pulled off victory by 37 runs.
Tests: New Zealand 0 England 2
1974Three-day matches were still the name of the game, and there were only two Tests in this series. A century for Jan Brittin at Headingley in the first and Janette Dunning’s 74 pushed the game into an inevitable draw while in the second, at Worcester, Brittin’s 96 again put paid to any chance of a result as England didn’t even make it to their second innings.England 0 New Zealand 0
1984New Zealand had played England in three World Cups since the first one in 1973 by the time they got around to having their first series between themselves. New Zealand came over to England and were roundly beaten 3-0. Jan Brittin’s hundred marked the opener at Hastings, which proved no battle, then she made 88 not out in Leicester. Finally at Bristol she made another fifty to swing the match England’s way.
ODIs: England 3 New Zealand 0
1984-85England headed out to New Zealand for two drawn Tests, which acted as the warm-up for their onward journey to Australia, where they lost the five-Test series 2-1. The one-dayers, all in Melbourne, were a much more one-sided story, Australia picking them up 3-0, with two centuries for Jill Kennare in the second and third matches the talking point.
Tests: New Zealand 0 England 0
1992-93This tour again went in reverse, with England playing three Tests against New Zealand before heading to Australia. The Test series was won 1-0 against the White Ferns. The opening match in Auckland ended in an inevitable draw as England piled on 9 for 356 over the first two days. Jo Chamberlain’s five-wicket haul (eight match wickets) and three Carole Hodge run-outs inspired them to the win in Wanganui, while the third at New Plymouth was washed out after two days.
Tests: New Zealand 0 England 1
1996In Scarborough, England passed 400, with centuries for Barbara Daniels and Kathryn Leng, then New Zealand surpassed that, going over 500 thanks to a double from Kirsty Flavell. A stultifying second match at Worcester saw both sides reach nearly 300 runs, and neither even made it to the second innings. In the third, at Guildford, they set England a huge 311, and the hosts reached 225 for 8 on the last day, New Zealand just unable to break their duck in England. The one-dayers were a different story, though, as Debbie Hockley smashed New Zealand to their first ODI successes on England soil, and then some, with two fifties and a century – just as Jan Brittin had done to them a decade or so earlier.
Tests: England 0 New Zealand 0
ODIs: England 0 New Zealand 3
1999-00The Test win against New Zealand was scant consolation for England, who lost the Ashes against Australia. However, it was to be one of the last times that New Zealand played a Test, the team deciding to focus on one-day cricket instead. In all that time they had never once overhauled England. One-day wise, New Zealand more than got their revenge in their World Cup-winning year, with a 5-0 drubbing over their visitors.
Tests: New Zealand 0 England 1
ODIs: New Zealand 5 England 0
2000-01England headed Down Under for more misery within the same calendar year, where they were sent down 3-0 to complete eight ODI losses against New Zealand within 12 months.
ODIs: New Zealand 5 England 0
2002-03The Test win against New Zealand was scant consolation for England, who lost the Ashes against Australia. However, it was to be one of the last times that New Zealand played a Test, the team deciding to focus on one-day cricket instead. In all that time they had never once overhauled England.
Tests: New Zealand 0 England 1
2003One of New Zealand’s very last Tests, this was a draw at Scarborough. Centuries for openers Charlotte Edwards and Laura Newton gave England a first-innings lead of 70, but Maia Lewis’s 60 put the chances of a result out of the window.
England 0 New Zealand 0
2004The 3-2 scoreline belies the fact that England had the series wrapped up by the fourth match, at which point it was 3-1. New Zealand took the consolation win at Old Trafford in the fifth match.
England 3 New Zealand 2
2007Again, the scoreline was flattering to one side: New Zealand had already taken the series with the first three matches by the time England won the last two matches. As an indication of form ahead of the next World Cup, New Zealand looked handy.
England 2 New Zealand 3