Miles away from the thrill and glamor of IPL 2026, the ongoing Women’s ODI series in New Zealand has come to an end. The T20 and ODI series played between the women’s teams of New Zealand and South Africa ended with the victory of the host team. The last match of the ODI series was played between the two teams on Saturday, April 4, which New Zealand won by a huge margin of 66 runs and also captured the series 2-1. However, New Zealand could have lost this match, had it not been for the magic of the bat of 33-year-old Maddy Green, who scored a brilliant century.
Before this match played in Wellington, the series was tied at 1-1. Before this, a T20 series was also played between the two, which New Zealand won 4-1. In such a situation, South Africa had a chance to settle some scores and the possibility of this was also visible from the way the African team started in the decisive ODI match. But Maddy Green and her partner Brook Halliday dashed South Africa’s hopes.
New Zealand batted first in this match but could score only 3 runs in the first 19 balls and the top-3 batsmen also returned to the pavilion. It included batsmen like experienced opener Suzie Bates and captain Emily Karr. After 3 wickets fell for just 3 runs, Maddy Green took charge and was supported by Halliday. Together they made an excellent partnership of 211 runs for the fourth wicket. Halliday (98) missed the century but Green died after scoring his third century. Green lasted till the last ball and returned unbeaten after scoring 141 runs (15 fours) in 128 balls. On this basis New Zealand scored 306 runs.
On the other hand, South Africa started in a completely opposite manner to New Zealand’s innings. For the team, captain and opener Laura Woolworth made a partnership of 68 runs with Tazmin Britts. Then along with Anne Derksen took the team to 145 runs. After such a start, it seemed that South Africa would easily reach the target but as soon as Woolworth was out, there was a fall of wickets. The next 8 wickets fell for only 95 runs and the entire team collapsed for only 240 runs. This was the fate of South Africa’s fast bowler Rosemary Mayer, who took 5 wickets for 50 runs in 9.1 overs.