Published: Jun 05, 2013, 10:19 PM (IST)
Edited: Jun 05, 2013, 10:19 PM (IST)
Ian Bell’s gritty knock of 82 helped England set the momentum in the middle overs © Getty Images
Nottingham: Jun 5, 2013
Jos Butler’s unbeaten 47 in 16 balls and Ian Bell’s gritty knock of 82 helped England post a challenging total of 287 for the loss of six wickets against New Zealand in the third and final One-Day International at Nottingham on Wednesday.
Brendon McCullum won the toss and chose to field. With a victory in search to restore the pride, England lost their skipper Alastair Cook very early in the innings. Mitchell McClenaghan bowled a beautiful delivery which nipped back to hit the pads of Cook right in front of the leg stump.
Ian Bell and Jonathan Trott restored the shaky start patiently with a 66-run partnership before McClenaghan struck again. Trott tried to play across a delivery and missed it. The umpire had no hesitation in giving it in the bowler’s favour as England’s No.3 walked back scoring a well paced 37.
From thereon, Joe Root and Bell played some elegant strokes to defy a charged up Kiwi side with more wickets. Bell completed his half-century in the 27th over as the side was still going under four an over.
A typical Ian bell innings is filled with elegant shots timed to perfection and his 82-run innings was no different. Bell played a stable innings to set a solid platform for a high-scoring target. It was an innings every batsmen dreams to play; caressing the ball along the ground with no undue risks. However, Bell managed to shatter the silken touch with two disappointing decisions.
He called for a single as the ball grazed past the boot of Joe Root on the non-striker’s end. While Root took some time to respond, an agile Martin Guptill threw the ball wide to wicketkeeper Luke Ronchi who whipped of the bails. Root went back after a promising 33. A few moments later Bell threw his wicket away by driving the ball straight into the hands of Nathan McCullum to bring his innings to a premature halt.
With Bell’s wicket, England not only suffered the jolt of having two new batsmen at the crease, it also ensured the powerplay overs which should have ideally fetched at least 40 ended with just 20 additional runs.
Ravi Bopara who was a surprise inclusion in the squad looked circumspect and got a reprieve on two consecutive deliveries but managed to hang on with Morgan. Bopara could have found himself strolling back in quicktime had McClenaghan latched on to a sharp return catch.
The Kiwi fielders were all over the place showing great intention to back up the bowlers drying up the easy singles.
The two batsmen then pushed hard to increase the scoring against a stingy bowling attack. The 57-run stand came to an end as Bopara’s slog-sweep was caught at deep midwicket by Ross Taylor.
Thanks to a quickfire 47 in just 16 deliveries from Butler, England blazed to their eventual total. Butler found the fence with consummate ease to fire the English total. All kind of experimental shots worked for Butler. He targeted Kyle Mills in the 48th over hitting 22 runs from it.
In the next over, an usually accurate McClenaghan fed an aggressive Butler with two consecutive no-balls and a wide thereby bowling his second delivery four times which earned England seven runs. Meanwhile Morgan was more than happy to give strike to Butler and hitting the occasional deliveries to the fence. Morgan missed his half-century narrowly after being run-out for 49.
New Zealand batsmen will be mentally much more relaxed chasing the target with the series already in the bag.
With a series loss, England have slipped two places to fourth in the ICC ODI ranking while the Kiwis have been rewarded with the seventh spot from eighth.
If they lose this match the red jersey will start haunting the home side as they were crushed in an ODI series against Australia wearing a similar one in 2009.
Brief scores
England 287 for 6 in 50 overs (Ian Bell 82, Eoin Morgan 49; Micthell McClenaghan 3 for 54)vs New Zealand.
Full Scorecard
