Taylor Century Guides New Zealand To Series-Levling Win

New Zealand levelled the Royal London One-Day International series at The Oval after producing a sublime batting performance centred around a Ross Taylor century, eventually winning by 13 runs on the Duckworth-Lewis Method, despite some stern English resistance.

The Black Caps reached the second monumental score of this series, ending on 398-5, as Taylor’s 119* built on the early good work of the top order. However, England’s batsmen ran the totals close thanks to half-centuries from Captain Eoin Morgan and Alex Hales.

Man-of-the-match Taylor said: “It was nice to get out there and hit some balls in the middle and regain a little bit of form.

“These games have been brilliant so far and I am hoping for more of the same when it comes to going to the Rose (Ageas) Bowl on Sunday.”

Winning the toss and choosing to bat first, the visitors set out to hit their opponents out of the game.

Captain Brendon McCullum set the early tone; smashing a quickfire 39 from 22 balls before Liam Plunkett’s introduction brought his demise, caught by a back peddling midwicket when trying to pull.

Martin Guptill had played more sedately at the other end but came out of his shell after the departure of McCullum, going to 50 and pushing the Kiwis’ score past 100.

However, he couldn’t add to his half century, picking out Chris Jordan at midwicket off Ben Stokes when trying to flick off his hips.

That brought together the partnership that set up the mammoth total for the visitors, Kane Williamson being joined by Taylor. They put on 121 for the third wicket in less than 18 overs as all the England bowlers came under fire, Jordan in particular having his figures damaged, his nine overs going for 97 runs.

The hosts did make a breakthrough in the 36th over, Williamson dismissed by a full toss from Stokes that was originally called a no-ball before being overturned on review, for an 88-ball 93.

Taylor remained though and – alongside cameos from Grant Elliott (32 off 15) and Luke Ronchi (33 off 16) – he pushed the tourists up to 398-5, Taylor ending on 119 off just 96 balls.

Jason Roy and Hales came out swinging and got the hosts off to a flier, adding 85 inside the first 13 overs. However, the chase seemed to be derailed when Roy was dismissed by Nathan McCullum and Alex Hales, who scored his maiden ODI fifty, and Joe Root fell to the sweep in the same Mitchell Santner over, England finding themselves three down for 100.

But once again the match turned on its head as Ben Stokes scored 28 from 17 balls and shifted the momentum back to the hosts. Morgan and Jos Buttler continued that middle order push with the Captain leading the way, moving to a 28-ball half century. By the 30 over mark England had turned the equation into a gettable target of 158 from the last 20 overs with Morgan unbeaten on 77 from 37 balls.

However, England’s momentum was once again stalled, Jos Buttler caught behind off Trent Boult for 41 from 38 and Morgan’s innings finally coming to an end when he became Mitchell McClenaghan’s second wicket, out for 88 from 47 balls off the second ball of the batting powerplay.

The powerplay saw Sam Billings caught at point for 12, Boult’s second wicket of the innings before Adil Rashid and Liam Plunkett put up a valiant late effort as England refused to give up their pursuit.

The pair put on 70 runs in 7.4 overs but were just behind the rate when the rain fell, seemingly ending the game with the hosts needing 54 runs off the final 37 balls.

The players did get a chance to get back to the field but by this time the equation for England to win had moved to an unlikely 34 runs off 13 balls. Liam Plunkett (44) and Adil Rashid (34) both fell in that short period going for quick runs and England needed 24 off the final over, something they couldn’t manage with Chris Jordan and Steven Finn closing the innings at 365-9 from 46 overs.

The rain-affected win for New Zealand means the sides go to The Ageas Bowl on Sunday level in the series at 1-1 with three enthralling games of cricket to come.

Root: Buttler Makes Clearing The Ropes Look Effortless

Joe Root says England will continue to be aggressive in the second Royal London One-Day International against New Zealand as the scoreboards are zeroed following the host nation’s record breaking victory on Tuesday.

The 24-year-old scored 104 off 78 balls at Edgbaston, projecting England towards their record total of 408-9 and – although Root admits scores of 400 plus are a rarity – he insists the ultra-aggressive approach will not change when the second match of the series gets underway at the Kia Oval on Friday.

“Obviously the way we played there was pretty much the perfect performance,” he said.

“We got off to a great start and, although through the middle we lost a few wickets more than we’d have liked, the way the guys played at the back end was absolutely spectacular.

“I suppose our challenge now is to try and do that more consistently.

“We’ve shown we can do it, and it’s certainly something we’ll look to replicate on Friday. We’ll go out there with a similar frame of mind to take on New Zealand.

“We’ve now done that, we know we can do it – can we go and do it again on Friday? It’s about taking the same mindset, same approach and hope we can do the same thing.

“We’re not naive enough to think they won’t come back hard at us, because they’re a great side. They’ve proved that now for the last couple of years in one-day cricket, and we’re going to have to play extremely well to get another win under our belts.

“Obviously it’s not very likely [that we'll score 400 in each game]. The other day it was a very, very good wicket.

“The key thing is giving ourselves the best chance of making a big score – to make sure we read the situation of the games well and keep looking for the positive option without getting too carried away.

“We’re committed to being very aggressive and we’ll take that approach into every match and then see where we’re at.”

Root, who has now scored five ODI hundreds in 55 appearances, admitted everything went right for him with the bat on the day of the first ODI, but he was quick to deflect the attention away from himself and onto Jos Buttler, the Lancashire wicketkeeper who faced just 77 balls in his remarkable innings of 129.

“It was one of those days where everything fell into place for me,” Root said. “I didn’t find the fielders too much early on and it was a fantastic wicket.

“We built some good partnerships along the way then got to watch one of the best innings I’ve ever seen from Jos, so it was a fantastic day all round and something I’ll treasure for a long time.

“You see him practice and it’s almost effortless when he’s clearing the ropes, which is quite annoying sometimes from a fellow player’s point of view.

“It was very exciting, obviously a phenomenal partnership between Adil (Rashid) and Jos, and an absolute pleasure to watch from the dressing room.

“It was great fun and I’m sure all the crowd were just as excited as we were really.

“It was spectacular to watch. Jos almost made you feel like every ball was going out of the park.

“He’s one hell of a player and he’ll be desperate to be consistent as well during the rest of the series.”

Boult Praises England’s Attacking Intent

After a much-maligned ICC Cricket World Cup campaign, which saw England draw the ire of fans across the world, it’s fair to say the build up to this Royal London Series came very much with a collective ‘raised eyebrow’ from the stands.

However, after twenty overs at Edgbaston, it wasn’t the eyebrows that were raised. It was arms and voices raised in celebration to a cacophony of boundaries from England’s batsmen.

Devastating centuries firstly from Joe Root then Jos Buttler, a fifty for Captain Morgan and some astonishing lower-order hitting from Adil Rashid and Liam Plunkett lifted England to their highest-ever ODI total, and according to New Zealand seamer Trent Boult, the hosts look like a different side to the one seen in the World Cup.

“We could definitely tell just by the way they came out with the bat, there was intent and a desire to push on the score, it was totally different to what we witnessed in Wellington,” he said.

“It was actually surprising how well they came out and looked to score, set up by some key partnerships.

“We got hit from both sides of the wicket, we overpitched it and we need to work out our death plans for some of England’s batsmen, Jos being one of them. He batted tremendously well.

“On a very good wicket it’s hard to bowl to most batsmen who are in. Joe batted very well and the partnerships kept flowing from there.”

Boult claimed four England wickets in the first innings, including their top three batsmen, but it was Matt Henry, Nathan McCullum and debutant Mitchell Santner who bore the brunt of the punishment – one wicket between them at the cost of 203 runs.

England, rejuvenated, then excelled with the ball, bowling New Zealand out inside 34 overs for 198, four wickets for Rashid and Steven Finn sealing England’s highest-ever margin for an ODI victory.

“To get bowled out inside 34 overs is not good enough,” added Boult.

“We just need to continue the stuff that we’ve been doing so well over the past 12 or 15 months. It’s building partnerships, it’s batting for time and allowing us the chance to cash in at the end of the innings and give the bowlers.

“It’s a heavy defeat, that’s for sure. We just have to take the lessons from it and get on with the rest of the series. It’s a quick turnaround.”

Captain Morgan Relishes Near Perfect Perfomance In First ODI

Eoin Morgan has hailed the record 210-run win over New Zealand as the ‘perfect performance’ for a new look squad trying to bounce back from the disappointment of the ICC Cricket World Cup campaign.

Hundreds from Joe Root and Jos Buttler guided the hosts to their highest ever score of 408-9, eclipsing the previous best of 391 against Bangladesh at Trent Bridge.

Morgan also chipped in with a half-century and the one-day captain believes consistency is the key to building on the record-breaking victory.

“For a long time we have talked about playing a different ‘brand’ of cricket, an aggressive one, and we produced that but the real test for us is going to be consistency,” the 28-year-old said.

“That is as close to a perfect performance in a One-Day International that I could hope for considering that it happened in the first game of the series with a new-look squad we have selected.

“In terms of the method in which we needed to play, we didn’t have to look much further that New Zealand who have put those types of performances in for a few years and have showed that playing consistently is possible.”

Morgan reserved special praise for all-rounder Adil Rashid, playing in just his 7th ODI, who scored a quickfire 69 before backing it up with 4-55 with the ball.

“As a captain, having a bowler who can turn the ball both ways with the levels of control he had is a great asset to have in your side,” he said.

“Today was the ideal scenario for Adil to bowl; having 400 on the board allowing him to come in and settle before attacking more with the field and he was outstanding.

“For New Zealand, trying to chase down six or seven an over against a guy who is turning it both ways is always going to be hard.

“Over time there will be ups and downs for the side and today is a huge high and a great benchmark to set given the method we went about playing New Zealand.

“If we had been bowled out for 280 or 300 I would still have been as happy because we kepy putting pressure on them and that is how we have to play.

“If you look at the guys who score the runs today, they playing aggressive, attacking cricket which comes naturally to the players we have selected.

“That is crucial as over a long period of time we normally go in to our shells, that is just how we play cricket as the ball moves around in this country.

“However, slowly but surely we have to move to the other end of spectrum and stop playing safe cricket. This game has been a huge step towards that.”

Trent Bridge hosts the fourth Royal London One-Day International between England and New Zealand on Wednesday 17 June. Don’t miss the chance to watch England’s rivalry against the Kiwis continue with explosive white ball action and secure your seat now.

Buttler Bludgeons Kiwis To Edgbaston Defeat

A rapid century from Jos Buttler, the second fastest in England’s one-day international history, propelled England to a record total on the way to a 210-run victory over New Zealand at Edgbaston.

The Lancashire wicketkeeper scored 129 off 77 balls, sharing in a world record 177-run seventh-wicket stand with Adil Rashid, as the home side amassed 408-9 from their 50 overs in the opening match of the Royal London One-Day Series in Birmingham.

Rashid and Steven Finn then took four wickets each as the tourists were reduced to 198 all out in 31.1 overs.

England’s brave new world in ODI cricket got off to the worst possible start after Eoin Morgan lost the toss; Jason Roy being caught at point off the first delivery of the match, handing New Zealand left-armer Trent Boult the first of his four wickets.

But following pre-match talk of a more cavalier approach to batting during a brand new World Cup cycle, Nottinghamshire’s Alex Hales combined with Joe Root to ensure that England’s run-rate was unaffected by the early setback.

The duo added 50 in 43 balls before Hales, who had looked in supreme touch, miscued an attempted pull off Boult and was caught at square-leg by Matt Henry for 20.

Root continued to attack, reaching his fifty in 41 balls with seven fours, and the Yorkshireman found a likeminded partner in his captain who led from the front by coming at the New Zealand bowling from ball one.

The 16th over of the innings, bowled by Nathan McCullum, costs 16 and included a dropped catch by Ross Taylor which reprieved Root who at the time was on 61.

Morgan welcomed New Zealand’s World Cup hero Grant Elliott to the attack by launching him for six over long-off and, with an extraordinary upper-cut maximum off McClenaghan, the captain brought up the century partnership off 84 deliveries.

The next landmark was the captain’s half-century, brought up in 45 balls with one four and three sixes. Moments later, Root launched Elliott for a straight maximum to move into the 90s.

Morgan was unable to add to his 50 as McLenaghan trapped him lbw, the Irishman’s partnership with Root having been worth 121 off 96 balls.

Root’s century arrived in just 71 deliveries, with 12 fours and two sixes, when he drove Henry down the ground for two runs – the fifth century of the 24-year-old’s one-day international career and, at the time, the third fastest ever for his country in the 50 over format.

Root had provided fine entertainment for the Edgbaston crowd, but he was out in the 25th over for 104, edging behind off Boult to hand the Kiwi opening bowler his third dismissal.

And the left-arm paceman, who was the joint leading wicket taker at the World Cup, had his fourth when Ben Stokes played on for ten attempting to pull.

When Sam Billings lost the battle of the debutants to depart lbw to Mitchell Santner for three, England had lost three fort 35 in 7.2 overs and, at 202-6, were in danger of undoing Root and Morgan’s earlier sterling work.

Jos Buttler and Adil Rashid, however, allowed themselves a brief period of reconnaissance, but they were soon embarking on a devastating counter-offensive.

Buttler reached his half-century off a relatively sedate 42 balls with four fours and a six before exploding into life and reaching his second ODI ton just 23 balls later.

The back-to-back strokes that brought up the milestone were vintage Buttler, an ingenious ramp followed by a classic cover drive, both off McClenaghan, before celebrating by taking 17 off an Elliott over.

When the wicketkeeper-batsman was finally dismissed, caught at square-leg off the bowling of McClenaghan, he had scored 129, off 77 balls, with 13 fours and five sixes.

Far from content to play the supporting role, Rashid, playing his seventh ODI, also made hay at the other end, scoring 69 off 50 balls. The Yorkshireman’s stand of 177 with Buttler was a world record for the seventh wicket in ODI cricket.

After Rashid holed out to long-on off the bowling of Elliott, his Yorkshire teammate Liam Plunkett launched two successive sixes that propelled the home side beyond 400.

In response, Brendon McCullum scored ten off his first three deliveries before swinging and missing at Stephen Finn, who bowled the New Zealand captain with a fast and accurate yorker.

Martin Guptill struck four authoritative boundaries en route to 22 before backing away, wafting at Finn and falling to a straightforward catch at the wicket by Buttler.

Rashid got among the wickets when Root sprinted in from long-off to snare a Kane Williamson miscue after the New Zealand number three had scored 45.

But Ross Taylor played sensibly to pass 50 in 46 balls with five fours and a six and, at 158-3 after 22.5 overs, the Black Caps had not yet given up hope of chasing their target.

The run out of Elliott by Billings with the South African born all-rounder on 24 was, however, a bitter blow for the World Cup finalists, proving to be the first of seven wickets to fall, for the addition of just 38 runs, as 160-3 became 198 all out in the space of just 8.1 overs.

Rashid collected two in two balls as Santner was pouched at slip by Chris Jordan for 15 and Luke Ronchi was bowled for a first ball duck.

Taylor was lbw to Finn for 57 and, as Henry was lbw to Rashid to hand the Yorkshireman career-best figures of 4-55, England were just two more poles from victory.

Jordan took the catch to dismiss Nathan McCullum and complete Finn’s impressive figures of 4-35. The Sussex paceman then ensured a one in his own wickets column by dismissing McClenaghan, caught in the deep by Hales for two, to wrap up an emphatic victory.

An Evening With Boycott And Aggers

England. Summer 2015. And it’s Ashes time again…

The extraordinary odd couple return by popular demand in a brand new show on 16 June. See Aggers challenge GB to justify his forthright views on cricket and life in general and our Geoffrey will say exactly what he thinks (what else?) about the ECB, England’s management and coaching staff, team selection, the captaincy, Kevin Pietersen and many other subjects he has hit out on in his latest autobiography, on air and in print. Enjoy hilarious anecdotes, in a fun, fiery evening full of surprises – and you can tweet Aggers live with your questions.

Royal Concert Hall 16 June, 7.30pm

Web link: www.trch.co.uk/index.aspx?articleid=29106

Tickets available online at trch.co.uk or by calling the Box Office on 0115 989 5555

New Zealand On Their Way

With the England v New Zealand Investec Test series ending in a draw, attention turns to the Royal London One-Day International matches for the answer to who will end with the bragging rights at the end of the Black Caps’ tour.

England have announced their youthful looking side as they look to bounce back from a dismal ICC Cricket World Cup campaign where they won just two matches.

On the other hand, New Zealand’s squad closely resembles that of the one which got them to the final of the showpiece tournament, held in their own back yard.

Trent Boult, who took 22 wickets at 16.86, and Corey Anderson, 231 runs at 33 and 14 wickets at 16.71 across the World Cup will be two of the usual culprits that the hosts will have to be wary of, but what about the new faces?

Here we run down the five different faces that New Zealand will welcome for the shorter formats.

Mitchell McClenaghan

Deemed surplus to requirements in the Cricket World Cup side (only playing one game), McClenaghan channeled his disappointment in to helping Mumbai Indians win the 2015 Indian Premier League.

Forming a fearsome opening and death bowling partnership with Lasith Malinga, the New Zealand left arm quick, who has played 35 ODIs and 16 T20s for New Zealand was one of the key men as they overcame Chennai Super Kings.

After Mumbai had posted 202-5, McClenaghan recorded figures of 3-25, including 15 dot balls, as he guided his side to a 41-run victory.

His ability to bowl tight at the death will be one that the tourists look to utilise as they try to get the best of England over the five matches.

The 28-year-old will spend most of the summer in England after signing a deal to join Middlesex for the last six games of their NatWest T20 Blast campaign.

  ‪”India was a great experience and couldn’t have gone any better, to be honest,” said McClenaghan.

“Winning the title in my first year playing the IPL was awesome. I learnt a huge amount, and loved my time in India. But it’s also great to be back with the boys. I’m looking forward to the challenge over here; it’s a massive series.

“It was nice just to get out there and get some miles into the legs before the series. I am looking at this tour and looking to make the most of any opportunity I get.

“I’m keen to do whatever I can for the team, whatever role Baz and Hess want out of me. Then I will look to do that role the best I can. We have good depth in our bowling squad, and I’m sure whoever is picked will do a job for the team.”

Grant Elliott

Unlike McClenaghan, Grant Elliott was an integral member of the Black Caps’ run to the final of the 2015 Cricket World Cup.

The 36-year-old right-hander scored fifties in both the semi-final and final, finishing the tournament with 310 runs at an average of 44.28.

The seasoned campaigner has been in the New Zealand set up for a number of years, scoring over 1,500 runs in his 67 ODIs and his stint at Leicestershire Foxes at the start of the NatWest T20 Blast campaign should mean he has already adapted to the English conditions.

Nathan McCullum

Another member of the Cricket World Cup squad, but one that wasn’t used for any of the hosts’ matches throughout the tournament.

Useful in both the batting and bowling department, his off breaks could be called upon to fill the massive void left by the retirement of Daniel Vettori.

Brother to captain Brendon, the explosive style of batting runs in the family and Nathan could be used as a middle order batsman having scored over 1,000 runs at a strike rate of 87 in his 78 ODIs.

Mitchell Santner

Another ‘Mitchell’ that England will have to deal with this summer on top of the likes of Starc, Johnson, Marsh and McClenaghan.

It might turn out that Santner doesn’t play at all in the ODI series but his 27 and 94 in the Somerset warm up game were indications of the talent of the 23-year-old.

Despite his bowling statistics not highly though of, his decision to change from left arm quick to left arm spin are likely to draw comparisons with Daniel Vettori’s record.

Ben Wheeler

Wheeler is another left arm quick, the kind of bowler that doesn’t seem to be at a shortage in either New Zealand or Australia.

Plying his trade with the Central Districts, the same place as Doug Bracewell, Adam Milne and Bevan Small, he first represented his country at under-19 level in 2010.

The 23-year-old has enjoyed an impressive first-class career up to now, taking 92 wickets at an average of 27, six of those coming on the tour of England.

In New Zealand’s first warm up match against Somerset, the left armer took 5-18 in the first innings to kick the tour off on the right not.

May not get much time with the likes of Tim Southee and Trent Boult ahead of him.

New Zealand ODI and T20 squad: Brendon McCullum (captain), Corey Anderson, Trent Boult, Grant Elliott, Martin Guptill, Matt Henry, Tom Latham, Mitchell McClenaghan, Nathan McCullum, Luke Ronchi, Mitchell Santner, Tim Southee, Ross Taylor, Kane Williamson, Ben Wheeler.

International Cricket At Trent Bridge

Welcome to all the coverage from international cricket at Trent Bridge in 2015 which will include the fourth Royal London One-Day International between England and New Zealand and the fourth Investec Ashes Test between England and Australia.

By scrolling back through the posts below you will see what we covered during the visits of New Zealand and Australia in 2013 and we will be looking to do just the same this time round.

Throughout the next week everything with be focused on the visit of New Zealand on Wednesday 17 June before the blog switches in to Ashes mode once again. We will get the lowdown of what the businesses around the ground and in the city get from the prestigious match coming to Trent Bridge as well as all the quirky stories that spectators bring along with them.

For the next two months this blog will be packed with exclusive content from behind the scenes at Trent Bridge so if you are in the ground look out for our volunteers who will no doubt be along to chat to as many people as humanly possible in one day.

Trent Bridge Ashes Blog

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