England v New Zealand, 2015
Wisden's review of the third ODI, England v New Zealand, 2015
Andrew Alderson
15-Apr-2016
At Southampton, June 14. New Zealand won by three wickets. Toss: England. One-day international debut: B. M. Wheeler.
New Zealand's successful chase of 303 - small fry for this series - felt like an open-wicket practice. This was especially so while the inevitable pair of Williamson and Taylor, who both made centuries, were adding 206. It was the highest for New Zealand's third wicket, surpassing 180 by Adam Parore and Ken Rutherford against India at Baroda in 1994-95, and for any New Zealand wicket against England, beating an unbroken 165 between openers Brendon McCullum and JesseRyder at Hamilton in 2007-08. But they were helped by a spate of dropped catches. Taylor was missed on 67 by Buttler and on 72 by Stokes at short midwicket, both off Wood, who spilled asimple chance at mid-off to reprieve Williamson off Willey on 109. New Zealand's late wobble brought those errors into sharper perspective. England had been careless with the bat, too. From 288 for five, they subsided to 302 all out, with 28 deliveries unused, as the debutant left-arm seamer Ben Wheeler finished with three wickets. But there was entertainment to be had, not least from Stokes,who smashed 68 from 47, and landed one six - a whopper, presumably - in the Gourmet Burgerscaravan. Billings made an inventive 34 from 16, but Morgan was left to defend England's gung-ho approach, which seemed even more wasteful when their fielding disintegrated later.Man of the Match: K. S. Williamson
New Zealand's successful chase of 303 - small fry for this series - felt like an open-wicket practice. This was especially so while the inevitable pair of Williamson and Taylor, who both made centuries, were adding 206. It was the highest for New Zealand's third wicket, surpassing 180 by Adam Parore and Ken Rutherford against India at Baroda in 1994-95, and for any New Zealand wicket against England, beating an unbroken 165 between openers Brendon McCullum and JesseRyder at Hamilton in 2007-08. But they were helped by a spate of dropped catches. Taylor was missed on 67 by Buttler and on 72 by Stokes at short midwicket, both off Wood, who spilled asimple chance at mid-off to reprieve Williamson off Willey on 109. New Zealand's late wobble brought those errors into sharper perspective. England had been careless with the bat, too. From 288 for five, they subsided to 302 all out, with 28 deliveries unused, as the debutant left-arm seamer Ben Wheeler finished with three wickets. But there was entertainment to be had, not least from Stokes,who smashed 68 from 47, and landed one six - a whopper, presumably - in the Gourmet Burgerscaravan. Billings made an inventive 34 from 16, but Morgan was left to defend England's gung-ho approach, which seemed even more wasteful when their fielding disintegrated later.Man of the Match: K. S. Williamson
Andrew Alderson is cricket writer at New Zealand's Herald on Sunday