Published: Feb 20, 2015, 04:48 PM (IST)
Edited: Feb 20, 2015, 04:51 PM (IST)
“We were out-skilled,” said England skipper Eoin Morgan, after the game. But even that sounded like an understatement.
In what was one of the most one-sided One-Day Internationals (ODIs) of all-time, New Zealand simply trampled England by eight wickets to remain in the top of the table in Pool A. The win boosted their net run rate significantly, while brought England’s to a crushing low. ICC Cricket World Cup 2015: Full Coverage
In a beautiful sunny day in Wellington, England won the toss at the Westpac Stadium in front of a close to full-house crowd. They chose to bat but found it extremely difficult to negotiate the swing of Tim Southee, who got the ball to talk, produced one of the finest fast bowling spells in ODI cricket.
Even at 104 for three in the 26th over, England were struggling but in a dramatic collapse they were bowled out 123. In a span of 45 balls, they managed just 19 runs and lost seven wickets! Southee picked up 7 for 33, the best ever bowling figures by a New Zealander in ODIs and he also became the fourth bowler in World Cup to pick seven wickets, after Winston Davis, Glenn McGrath and Andy Bichel.
New Zealand took only 12.2 overs to finish off the chase and captain Brendon McCullum, who had earlier shown brilliant captaincy with setting attacking fields (four slips) for his fast bowlers, came up with a memorable gem. He smashed the fastest fifty in World Cup history from just 18 balls, before getting out for a brutal 77 from just 25 balls, an innings which contained eight fours and seven sixes!
The Kiwis with six points from three games continue to top the Pool B while England have sunk to the bottom after taking a beating in their net run rate, which is as low as -3.95.
Brief scores:
England 123 in 33.2 overs (Joe Root 46; Tim Southee 7-33) lost to New Zealand 125 for 2 in 12.2 overs (Brendon McCullum 77; Chris Woakes 2-8) by eight wickets
