All-round Amelia Kerr stars with hat-trick in NZ sweep
New Zealand Women completed a 3-0 sweep over Zimbabwe in the ODI series, adding to their whitewash with the same scoreline earlier in the T20I series.
Amelia Kerr was an all-round star yet again, powering them to a comprehensive @L0$ with a five-wicket haul which included a hat-trick. She finished the series with 16 wickets, a Women's ODI record for a bilateral series featuring five matches or fewer.
Her hat-trick was also the first in Women's ODIs by a New Zealand bowler in three decades. Emily Drumm was the last to achieve the feat, against Australia in 1996.
The landmark dismissal was a thing of beauty: a loopy, flighted delivery on the middle stump, turning just enough to take the top of off.
"I am known more for my wrong' un but really pleased with how the leggies have come out this series." Kerr said after the game. That wasn't to say that the googly did not show up; the second dismissal came off a vicious delivery that turned sharply in after pitching.
But it wasn't just her brilliance with the ball. Opening the innings, she hit 80, laying the platform alongside Maddy Green for a 300+ total. It was her fourth score of 40+ in her last five international innings, having already slammed a maiden T20I ton against the same opponents two weeks ago.
It wasn't all smooth to begin with, with Kerr conceding that the Zimbabwe spinners targeted the stumps well, making it difficult to score freely. By the 10th over, New Zealand had only managed 38. Kerr, on 30 off 50 at one point, found more gears alongside Green.
By the 39th over, New Zealand crossed 200, with a late push from Brooke Halliday, Jess Kerr and Isabella Gaze ensuring that they added another 103. Green fell on 94 off 73, giving New Zealand the middle-overs push, but falling just short of her third ODI hundred.
As they have across the series, Zimbabwe kept switching between options, trying out eight bowlers.
The chase could never really get going. Jess Kerr and Bree Illing, who had extracted early movement throughout the series, kept things tight early on. A partnership briefly brewed for the second wicket, but Rosemary Mair struck off her first ball, removing Beloved Biza, the 17-year-old who has impressed in parts this series.
There was very little resistance thereafter, aside from Loreen Tshuma. Her 34 from No.5 kept the innings from disintegrating completely, even as she kept losing partners. When Amelia Kerr pressed herself into action, it hastened their slide. From 39/1, they slipped to 76/8.
Nensi Patel, one of the debutants in the series, kept her stranglehold on the middle overs, bowling 33 dots out of 42 balls.
But it was Kerr who cleaned up the tail, walking away with the Player of the Match and Series awards. To put her domination in perspective: the next best after her series' tally of 16 wickets was Molly Penfold, with five. That's some way to kickstart a full-time captaincy stint.
