England 164 for 1 (Wyatt-Hodge 89*, Dunkley 49*) beat New Zealand 163 for 6 (Melie 42, Devine 30, Gibson 2-30) by nine wickets

On a day for records, they did it in front of a crowd of 21,018, the highest attendance for a T20 Women’s World Cup group stage match. Wyatt-Hodge, meanwhile, became the highest run-scorer at a single edition of the T20 Women’s World Cup with 282 runs and counting. She played superbly, cutting and driving to the boundary seemingly at will in her third outstanding innings of this World Cup after her unbeaten century against Sri Lanka and gritty 65 in the sapping heat against West Indies earlier in the week.

Defending champions New Zealand started the match knowing a win would put them through to the semi-finals after a difficult campaign in which they have won two matches and lost two up to that point. But they couldn’t prolong the retirement party for Sophie Devine, Suzie Bates and Lea Tahuhu, all three ending their international careers at the group stage, instead of the final, which would have provided the fairytale ending for them.

Melie Kerr squandered her strong start, top-scoring for the White Ferns with 42 off 34 balls, while Devine added some trademark fireworks for a 14-ball cameo worth 30. Bates added 19 off 13 at the end to raise England’s target to 164.

Wyatt-Hodge does it again

Wyatt-Hodge and Amy Jones racked up 31 runs off the first three overs, Jones particularly assertive against Bree Illing with three fours in five balls, pulled, cut and driven. But when she chipped offspinner Nensi Patel straight to mid-off, England were 36 for 1 at the end of the fourth.

Devine entered the attack in the sixth over but struggled for line and length and was punished with three fours as Wyatt-Hodge and Dunkley closed out the powerplay at 57 for 1, equal to their best of the tournament, against West Indies at Lord’s, where they had conceded two wickets.

Shortly after the powerplay, a rain shower arrived in south London to break the heatwave and the flow of the match as the players left the field. But Wyatt-Hodge and Dunkley picked up where they left off, Wyatt-Hodge climbing into three fours off one Melie over and two more in the next, from Patel, to bring up her fifty off 33 balls. From there, Wyatt-Hodge and Dunkley saw their side home with ease.

White Ferns start strong

New Zealand stuck with their opening combination of Melie and Isabella Gaze, who were united against Scotland in the previous game with Georgia Plimmer on the bench, and the pair staged a stand of 70 in 60 balls.

Melie was strong on the cut and sweep early, then found the boundary twice in three balls during Dani Gibson’s first over with a lovely back-foot drive followed by a ramp. When Gaze tried the latter shot herself two balls later, it was met with a fumble from Amy Jones behind the stumps and a sigh of relief from New Zealand as they reached the powerplay 44 without loss.

Three in four for England

Sophie Ecclestone conceded just seven runs off her first two overs to put a lid on the openers. Gaze then struck back-to-back fours off Freya Kemp but then skied the last ball of Kemp’s opening over to long-on, where Alice Capsey took an assured catch just inside the boundary’s edge.

Melie was furious with herself when she missed an attempted scoop off Gibson and was bowled next ball, thrashing her bat through the air and throwing her head back in frustration, having squandered her start for a third time in four innings at this tournament.

Then Izzy Sharp fell two balls later as Gibson skidded one through from outside off stump and found the outside edge, which clattered into the stumps. That left Gibson with 2 for 14 from two overs and New Zealand, from 70 without loss, 70 for 3.

Devine cameo

New Zealand’s plight required a Devine special and she provided to a point in typically explosive style. Three massive leg-side sixes in as many balls that she faced had Devine on 27 off 10 balls and set an already healthy partnership with Brooke Halliday, which they ultimately built to 54 in 29 deliveries. Their efforts put the White Ferns back on track at 124 for 3 until it came undone again.

Dean direct

England had been sharp in the field, but it was a stunning direct hit from Charlie Dean, their acting captain, to break up the Devine-Halliday union. When Halliday thrashed a Lauren Bell delivery into the off-side, Dean swooped just inside the ring and fired the ball to the non-striker’s end, splattering the stumps with Halliday well short of her ground.

Devine fell two balls later, struck on the pads attempting a slog to Bell and, while she reviewed, ball-tracking showed she was plumb. That brought fellow retiree Suzie Bates to the crease after playing a limited role down the order. Playing just her third match of the tournament, Bates added 19 off 13 balls before she was run out on the last delivery of the innings.