New Zealand’s Devine cut a resigned figure as she walked out to bat in the ninth over.
Although her side had narrowly avoided losing a wicket in the opening over for the third time in three matches, thanks to Suzie Bates overturning an lbw decision when on nought, two wickets in three balls derailed their promising start.
Bates’ run-out, caught on her heels as Melie Kerr darted for a single, was inexcusable and marked the fifth powerplay wicket lost by New Zealand at the tournament.
Fortunately, Devine is the tournament’s in-form batter, scoring 112 and 85 in her previous two innings, and after Kerr’s dismissal in the 11th over left New Zealand teetering on the brink of all-out collapse, she found the perfect partner in Halliday.
They were forced to play the long game against Bangladesh’s battalion of slow spinners, who made it difficult to get the ball off the square. Rather uncharacteristically, Devine did not score a boundary until the 65th ball of her innings.
Instead, they were content to trade singles and tick along at around four an over during their perfectly timed stand. Any aggression came from Halliday, who found success with the sweep.
It laid the foundations for what Halliday described as “party time” in the final 10 overs, with nine of New Zealand’s 23 boundaries coming towards the death to push them beyond 220, before their bowlers ripped through Bangladesh.
But the resounding nature of their victory could not disguise a major batting concern for the White Ferns.
Devine has scored 260 runs at this tournament – or 37% of her side’s runs – while Halliday is responsible for their two other 40+ knocks. As for Georgia Plimmer, Bates and Kerr, they have combined for just 121 runs.
New Zealand have a win on the board, but relying on Devine intervention with the bat is not a sustainable strategy as they attempt to advance beyond the initial group stage for the first time since 2013.
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