England squeeze past New Zealand in first women’s ODI thanks to Charlie Dean

• 1st ODI: England, 211-9, bt New Zealand, 210, by 1 wkt

• Captain guides long tail to low target

After all the hype about England’s biggest summer, it got off to an underwhelming start at Chester-le-Street on Sunday, as they limped to a one-wicket win in the first one-day international against New Zealand, chasing just 211. Only a calm rearguard effort from the stand-in captain, Charlie Dean, who finished unbeaten on 31 and valiantly marshalled England’s long tail, enabled them to crawl across the line.

England played exactly the way you might expect from a team who have gone 194 days without playing an international match (their last outing was the World Cup semi-final in October). First, they made a spate of fielding errors, costing them precious runs in a low-scoring thriller. Then they subsided to 149 for six, after Emma Lamb, Amy Jones and Dani Gibson all holed out to gleeful fielders. Continue reading...