Mighty England Nail the Aggressive Kiwis in the 1st ODI: England Vs New Zealand - Match Report

Mighty England Nail the Aggressive Kiwis in the 1st ODI: England Vs New Zealand – Match Report: It was the inaugural ODI of the 5 match ODI series between England and New Zealand at Edgbaston, Birmingham. The pitch looked to opt marginal amount of support for the bowlers and it was predicted to be a batting paradise. Keeping in mind the conditions, New Zealand skipper, Brendon McCullum opted to bat first and it turned out to be a bane for the Kiwis as this decision eventually led to a harassing defeat by a margin of 210 runs.

The match did start in favour of the Black Caps as pacer Trent Boult provided them with the wicket of English debutant, Jason Roy right in the first delivery of the match. Things seemed to be a bit complex for the English line up. Just then, Alex Hales and Joe Root started building a steady partnership for the English team. Hales was dismissed right in the eighth over by another piece of beauty from Boult.

It was Boult who kept things intact for the Kiwis while on the other hand, Matt Henry, Nathan McCullum and Mitchell McClenaghan were swaggered brutally. After the fall of the wicket of Hales, a decent and settled partnership between Root and the skipper, Eoin Morgan, took England into cruise control over the game. The partnership contributed to 121 runs when Morgan was dismissed by an inswinger from McClenaghan. Morgan opted for the review but it went in vain. Boult was re-introduced into the attack as England were cruising and were in the path for setting up a gigantic total on the board. Root scored a century and it was indeed a well deserving and equally crucial for the team. In the third delivery of the 25^th over, Root nicked one of Boult and Ronchi made no mistakes and in the process, Root’s innings ended at the score of 104 runs.

By losing two quick wickets in succession, things looked a bit fumbled for England and it was amplified by the dismissal of Ben Stokes couple of overs later. Sam Billings followed him back to the pavilion and England were reduced to 202 for the loss of 6 wickets. Then came the real twist of the game when Jos Buttler and bowling all-rounder Adil Rashid went on to build a record breaking partnership to snatch away the game from New Zealand’s reach.

The partnership contributed 177 runs off 105 deliveries and Jos Buttler played the pivotal role in the partnership. They went for a counter attack when wickets kept falling and that literally paid off for England. Buttler scored a total of 129 runs in 77 deliveries with 13 fours and 5 sixes. He was later adjudged as the Man of the Match. This is now the highest 7^th wicket partnership in ODIs. Rashid scored 69 off 90 and it was decent enough to put the kiwis on the back foot. With a little cameo from Plunkett at the death, England posed a total of 408 runs on the board for the loss of 9 wickets in 50 overs. This was their first score over 400 runs in ODIs. All the kiwi bowlers seemed miserable, save Boult who had a figure of 4 for 55 in 10 overs.

The target would have been literally impossible to chase but for a squad with the possession of sheer attacking strengths, a cracker of a game was anticipated. Indeed, the second innings started with a boom with McCullum smacking two boundaries right in the fourth and fifth deliveries of the first over but the English pacer, Steven Finn struck the off stump in the final delivery to siege the wicket of the kiwi skipper. This was a massive blow to them and the half of the match was lost by New Zealand in the first over itself.

After the fall of the skipper’s wicket, Guptill and Williamson constructed a steady partnership. However, Williamson lacked his touch in the initial deliveries and was unable to score a single run from the first 9 deliveries he faced. With pressure building up, Guptill charged down against Finn and ended up edging the ball and in turn gave his wicket to Finn in the 7^th over. Taylor came in next and the required run rate mounted for the kiwis and things kept getting tougher for the chasers. Williamson was dismissed by Rashid right in the 14^th over of the innings.

With Elliott coming in to bat next, a quick partnership was being built between him and Taylor to put the wheels of the chase back on the track. However, a fantastic piece of fielding coupled with a mis-judged call led to Elliott’s run-out in the 22^nd over. To seal the final nails to the coffin of the Kiwis in the match, the 28^th over of the innings by Adil Rashid turned things completely in favour of England. With a brilliant variety of spin, he dismissed debutant  Mitchell Santner which was followed by an ecstatic googly to deceive Ronchi right in the next delivery.

Finally in the 32^nd over of the innings, New Zealand were bundled at the score of 198 runs and this marked the biggest margin of victory for England in the history of ODI cricket.

England must be pumped up after such an extraordinary performance in the game while the World Cup runners up look to be in a spot of bother and needs to fight back well in the second ODI which is scheduled to be held on Friday.

Match Summary:

England – 408/9 in 50 overs (Joe Root 104, Jos Buttler 129, Trent Boult 4/55) won by 210 runs

New Zealand – 198/10 in 31.1 overs (Ross Taylor 57, Steven Finn 4/35, Adil Rashid 4/55)