Ganesh Kendale
England comfortably beat New Zealand by five wickets in their final warm-up game ahead of the Women’s T20 World Cup.
After losing the toss in Dubai, they restricted New Zealand to 127-4 from their 20 overs.
Seamer Lauren Bell and spinners Linsey Smith, Sarah Glenn and Charlie Dean all took one wicket apiece.
England raced to 70-3 in the eighth over before Danni Wyatt-Hodge was caught on the mid-wicket boundary for 35 off 19 balls.
Captain Heather Knight made seven and when Nat Sciver-Brunt (31) was dismissed England needed 31 to win.
But, Dani Gibson hit an unbeaten 22 off 15 balls to see England home with 18 balls to spare.
Left-arm spinner Sophie Ecclestone played no part in the game as the world number one-ranked bowler was rested as part of a workload management plan.
England lost their opening warm-up game against Australia by 33 runs on Sunday.
Their opening game is against Bangladesh in Sharjah on Saturday (15:00 BST), before matches against South Africa, Scotland and West Indies.
The tournament begins on Thursday when Bangladesh host Scotland (11:00).
It was due to take place in Bangladesh but was moved to the United Arab Emirates in August after civil unrest.
