Dismal Start for England in New Zealand

England have played badly before many times, and especially on foreign tours our national XI is prone to failure.
But rarely have I seen such disastrous performances as the first two One-Day Internationals of the current winter tour to New Zealand. What is the point of having very well paid professional players and sending them to the other side of the globe, if they play worse than the amateur second XI of Little Humbledon-on-the-Haze? Something is - once again - very wrong with the England team, and I wonder if the new selector might have a word or two to say about it. But so far Geoff Miller is keeping silent...

On February 9th the opening match of the one-day series was played in Wellington. England won the toss and decided to bat, but there was little joy for the tourists who were bowled out for an unbelievable 130. Phil Mustard was the top-scorer with 31, and Stuart Broad impressed with 3-26. But the bowlers had really nothing to defend and New Zealand eased to victory in 30 overs, completely at home on a slow wicket which had bamboozled England.

Given that the tourists had enjoyed a good build-up to the series, with comprehensive wins in the two Twenty20 Internationals, it was a desperately disappointing performance from them - particularly with the bat.

If the first match was really bad, the second - played earlier today in Hamilton - was abysmal. New Zealand won the toss and decided to field, but once again the England batting collapsed in a shambles. For the second match running, England's innings was unhinged by three run-outs. And after they had been bowled out for 158 in only 35.1 overs, three catches were dropped as New Zealand blasted their way to the winning target in an amazing speed, passing it without loss in just 18.1 overs!

England captain Paul Collingwood (left) conceded that his team had produced a "very poor performance" in the second One-Day International against the Kiwis. "We're very disappointed," he said. "There are eleven blokes in the dressing-room who are devastated. We hit 85 from the first 15 overs, but when the rain came it really knocked the stuffing out of us. I don't know why, but it was very poor from then."
Commenting on the run-outs, Collingwood said: "I would have thought we would have learned from the last game, and I hold my hand up as I was involved with the first one. We are not getting totals on the board for the bowlers to defend and we have got to get that right pretty soon."

I could not agree more with Collingwood, but I am still waiting to hear a word from Geoff Miller...

By contrast, New Zealand opener Brendon McCullum was full of confidence after his sparkling unbeaten 80, containing five sixes, gave his team a commanding 2-0 lead in the series.
McCullum's innings was particularly inspirational after he revealed that his father had been rushed to hospital at the weekend following a heart scare.

First One-Day International (Wellington)
England: 130 (49.4 overs) <> New Zealand: 131-4 (30.0 overs)

Second One-Day International (Hamilton)
England: 158 (35.1 overs) <> New Zealand: 165-0 (18.1 overs)