Batting costs England again as NZ seal 3-0 sweep

Wellington’s third one-day international

England 222 (40.2 overs): Overton 68 (62), Tickner 4-64, Duffy 3-56

New Zealand 226-8 (44.4 overs): Ravindra 46 (37), Mitchell 44 (68), Overton 2-32

New Zealand won the series by two wickets and 3-0.

After falling to Australia in the third one-day international in Wellington, England were unable to recover from another somber batting error, leading the visitors to Australia by two wickets.

England’s top order again folded, bowled out for the third game in a row, and New Zealand threatened to sabotage a 220-run chase.

In a 3-8 collapse, they lost captain Mitchell Santner for 27 and Daryl Mitchell for 44, who were only needed for 35 from 87 balls as they rolled up to 187-5.

With two wickets left, 27 were still unbeaten, but Zak Foulkes and Blair Tickner’s unbroken ninth-wicket partnership, which had the potential to inspire hope for an unlikely, morale-boosting victory for England was voided.

England’s bowling effort was admirable, but this defeat was actually caused by their most recent top-order collapse, which left them 44-5.

Joe Root was out for two, Harry Brook for eight, and Ben Duckett for eight, but Jamie Overton’s 68, his first over the opening day of the series, was his only run for 200.

Seven of this XI’s players now travel to Perth to prepare for the highly anticipated series against Australia, which kicks off on November 21.

They only have one warm-up game against the England Lions, which is a three-day game, leaving little room for those battling for form before the series opener.

The main points of discussion in this game were:

England won the rain-affected T20 series 1-0, but the batting struggles across the three ODIs prevented them from building momentum on their journey across the Tasman Sea.

Following previous losses of 33-5 and 81-5, this top-order effort came after.

It was always fantastic to win in those positions. England still appear to be a team that can’t find the rhythm of 50-over cricket or the self-assurance to endure difficult circumstances.

The batters continued their insistence on being aggressive as the ball zipped around for New Zealand’s seamers after losing another game.

In the second over for five, Jamie Smith, another Ashes player in poor form, was almost bowled before duckett, the opener’s opening partner, hacked a pull in mid-on.

Jacob Bethell was yet another adulterer as he slashed a cut to the cordon while Root was being pinned by a Foulkes inswinger and Brook was tentatively slipping a ball.

Just 84 runs have been scored for England’s top four overall in the series, a new and unremarkable record for men’s ODI series of at least three games.

With these three defeats, England remain eighth in the ODI world rankings, leaving them without any form before the Ashes.

In contrast, since February 2019, New Zealand has won 93% of their ODIs at home. They discovered a way to win, even when they were about to throw it away.

Tickner, who had earlier taken 4-64, and Foulkes were helped by England’s skipper Brook’s error in making a wise gamble.

With only Adil Rashid’s leg-spin, ineffective on a seamer’s pitch, and Curran’s medium pace at the death, Brook frontloaded his key pace bowlers, Jofra Archer, who bowled quickly again without reward, plus Brydon Carse and Overton.

Before New Zealand reached the winning line, Curran nicked off Mitchell but was unable to take out another.

Overton, who also took 3-32 here and scored 156 runs throughout the series, is one of the few to improve their standing.

After Jos Buttler scored for 38, Overton showed strong attacking and a capacity to hold off momentum, even after the new-ball movement had faded, making sure England’s innings was 40.2% overs.

We have discussed the batting, to be precise. We didn’t score enough points to defend ourselves and give the bowlers the best chance to win the game. We’ll go back and apply the lessons we learned from this trip to future endeavors.

Mitchell Santner, captain of New Zealand, said, “The guys stepped up at different times during the chase. But thanks to England’s bowlers, they never made it easy in any games, especially on some wickets that had a little bit of a snag. Outstanding control was given by Daryl Mitchell in the middle.