England beat NZ in T20 WC warm-up

ADELAIDE, Australia: England beat New Zealand by six wickets Sunday in their first official warm-up for the women’s Twenty20 World Cup, but India’s preparations were hit with their clash against Pakistan washed out.

The World Cup gets underway on Friday in Sydney when defending champions Australia face India, but both teams have been disrupted by the weather.

Australia were unable to play their match against the West Indies in Brisbane on Saturday due to a wet outfield at Allan Border Field, and India’s game at the same venue met a similar fate Sunday. Bangladesh’s showdown against World Cup debutants Thailand was also called off. But England managed some much-needed match practice with a comfortable win over New Zealand in Adelaide, restricting them to just 134 for nine.

Chasing 135 to win, Amy Jones and Danni Wyatt put on 41 before Jones was unlucky to bottom-edge an attempted pull on to her stumps. Wyatt and captain Heather Knight added 40 to take England most of the way to victory, with Knight hitting the winning runs with two overs to spare. “It was a good pitch so it was a really good performance by our bowlers,” said Knight.