Well, it appears that England is not down and out yet down under, and that our one-day XI is still a force to be reckoned with. After heavy and embarrassing defeats in the first two matches, the third - played earlier today in Auckland (and followed ball by ball via TMS by many England fans) - had the (British) Empire striking back. Captain Paul Collingwood (right) led England to a six-wicket win, to keep the one-day series against New Zealand alive.
Collingwood won the toss and - having obviously learned from recent experience - opted to field first. With Dimitri Mascarenhas and Luke Wright recalled at the expense of Graeme Swann and Ravi Bopara, the tourists looked a different team altogether during the day-night match in Auckland.
England had the Kiwis at 95-6 - thanks to Anderson, Broad and Collingwood, who took two wickets each (with Mascarenhas taking two catches off Anderson and Broad) - but Jacob Oram smashed 88 off 91 balls to help the home side survive their 50 overs and end on 234-9.
Chasing a revised target of 229 in 47 overs (adjusted from the original 235, using the Duckworth-Lewis method) after a short interruption by rain, Ian Bell (73) and Kevin Pietersen (41) shared 107, but fell in three overs to an economical Daniel Vettori.
Paul Collingwood hit three sixes in 70 (from 50 balls) to secure victory with three overs left. He was joined by Owais Shah, and the pair played sensibly to keep the rate around a run a ball, recording a fifty stand in 51 balls.
It was an important win for England, who were comprehensively beaten after making low scores batting first in the two opening matches of the five-game series. The two remaining matches will still be challenging for England, and the Kiwis are no easy opposition. But at least the one-day series is kept alive, with the Test matches still to come.
Third One-Day International (Auckland)
New Zealand: 234-9 (50 overs) <> England: 229-4 (44 overs)
(Duckworth-Lewis method was applied, reducing England's target to 229)
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)
Well, it appears that England is not down and out yet down under, and that our one-day XI is still a force to be reckoned with. After heavy and embarrassing defeats in the first two matches, the third - played earlier today in Auckland (and followed ball by ball via TMS by many England fans) - had the (British) Empire striking back. Captain Paul Collingwood (right) led England to a six-wicket win, to keep the one-day series against New Zealand alive.
