Published: Jun 20, 2015, 07:27 PM (IST)
Edited: Jun 21, 2015, 01:04 AM (IST)
The discipline of England‘s bowlers in the middle overs were founded on two fronts: a line outside off stump but so close that room isn’t generated for any leverage-based shot-making, and a length marginally short of good. The legspinner Adil Rashid got decent drift, and bowled the occasional googly, and the all-round accuracy in line and length by each member of the bowling attack dried up the runs and induced wickets. Despite the hold they enjoyed over the batsmen in seamer-friendly conditions at Chester-le-Street, New Zealand managed to get to 283 for 9 in the fifty overs, the score boosted by an aggressive 39 off 28 balls by Ben Wheeler at end, including 22 off the final over. LIVE CRICKET SCORECARD: England vs New Zealand, 5th ODI, Chester-le-Street
The existence of scoring in the entire innings existed in the regions of the third man, sweeper cover and deep square leg, where fielders were appropriately positioned. Additionally, the swing in the wicket made it harder to score even for well-set batsmen, who were never ‘in’. This was demonstrated by three batsmen — Kane Williamson, Ross Taylor and Martin Guptill — getting out after getting decent starts. Guptill was removed for 67 by an inswinging delivery that swung after pitching on a good length, taking his outside edge as he went for a loose drive, collected by the keeper. Most of the smatter of boundaries in the middle overs arrived via him.
A forceful drive off Rashid, who had been inviting the batsmen for a drive with an extra-cover protection, evaded that fielder due to the force of the ball and went to the boundary. An upper cut for six off Mark Wood was special; it came out of the blue, as he and Taylor had been tied up so much. LIVE CRICKET UPDATES: England vs New Zealand, 5th ODI, Chester-le-Street
His wicket was followed by that of Mitchell Santner, who stepped down the track to smash Rashid, but got beaten and bowled. Due to these setbacks, the duo of Grant Elliott and Taylor failed to up the run-rate. The batting powerplay, taken in the 36th over improved the run-making a bit, with 39 runs off the five overs, but it involved more hard running than a flurry of fours and sixes. The hold over the batting gave way to the urge to let loose, and Elliott lost his wicket like Santner, coming down the track to spell his downfall off Rashid, but only stumped instead of being bowled.
With that wicket, Rashid finished his spell with 2 for 45 off his ten overs, his figures providing evidence of the inability to New Zealand’s batsmen to negotiate him. And that included Taylor, who for the most part, looked like being the anchor to lead his side to a big total. His innings constituted nudges and drives to deep-set fielders. It felt as if this would lead to an obligatory blitz towards the end of the innings, but before that he was nicked off by David Willey off an angled delivery outside the off stump that seamed after pitching.
Earlier, No.3 Kane Williamson looked like playing the entire quota of overs to take New Zealand to a fighting total. After Brendon McCullum was dismissed in the first over, the duo of Guptill and Williamson stroked some elegant boundaries, and respected good balls in good bowling conditions to enable New Zealand to keep a run-rate of five for the best part of 20 overs.
Luke Ronchi and Tim Southee were among the batsmen looking to provide an anticipated push. But No.8 Ben Wheeler did that in the final over, with three sixes off Steven Finn to get his side to a more respectable total.
Brief scores:
New Zealand 283 for 9 in 50 overs (Martin Guptill 67, Kane Williamson 50, Ross Taylor 47, Ben Wheeler 39*; Ben Stokes 3 for 52) vs England.
