England’s batting flopped for the second time in four days as Harry Brook’s side slumped to a one-day international series defeat in New Zealand ahead of The Ashes.
England were bundled out for 175 in 36 overs during a five-wicket loss in Wednesday’s second ODI in Hamilton – Jamie Overton (42 off 28 balls) top-scoring from the No 8 spot – having been rolled for 223 in a four-wicket reverse in Sunday’s opener at Mount Maunganui.
Jofra Archer (3-23), playing his first ODI against New Zealand since delivering the match-winning Super Over in the 2019 World Cup final, pinned Will Young (0) in a wicket-maiden first over and was superb throughout as he bowled 51 dot balls and four maidens.
When the paceman removed Michael Bracewell (5) with the final ball of his spell, after also accounting for Rachin Ravindra (54), New Zealand were wobbling on 118-5 after 28 overs, only for Daryl Mitchell (56no) and captain Mitchell Santner (34no off 17) to pound an unbroken 59 from 32 to secure victory with 101 deliveries in the bank ahead of Saturday’s third and final ODI in Wellington (1am UK)
England captain Harry Brook on Jofra Archer’s 3-23: ‘He is an awesome bowler – 90-95mph and hoops both ways. Everyone loves watching him’
Brook was unable to back up his sizzling 135 from 101 deliveries in the series opener, dismissed for a run-a-ball 34 as Young took an acrobatic grab at backward point.
The captain’s fellow Ashes batters – Ben Duckett, Jamie Smith, Joe Root and Jacob Bethell – all laboured again weeks out from the first Test against Australia.
Duckett (1) edged Jacob Duffy behind in the third over and while the other three reached double figures – an upgrade on the first ODI – they then fell for 13, 25 and 18 respectively.
Brook scored a run-a-ball 34, three days after a scintillating 135 in the series opener
Bethell’s dismissal was perhaps the most frustrating of the lot as the 21-year-old hauled a short ball from Nathan Smith (2-27) to deep square immediately after a drinks break and once again failed to make a case to oust Ollie Pope as England’s Ashes No 3.
England pay the price for another batting malfunction
Root was caught down the leg-side off Blair Tickner (4-34) as the New Zealand seamer impressed on his first appearance for his country in over two years, a period in which his wife Sarah was diagnosed with leukaemia – she is now in remission.
Tickner also accounted for Overton as well as bowlers Carse (3) and Adil Rashid (9), while off-spinner Bracewell castled Sam Curran (17) with a beauty and Jos Buttler (9) was lbw to Smith as he suffered a second straight single-figure dismissal.
Plus, Duckett’s opening partner Jamie Smith skewed Zak Foulkes to Kane Williamson at backward point attempting a leg-side boundary.
Jamie Overton top-scored for England with 42 off 28 balls
Black Caps captain Santner may have been concerned when he shelled Brook on nought at mid-off, an admittedly tough chance, but the left-arm spinner then dismissed his opposite number thanks to Young’s athleticism in the off-side.
Young lasted only four deliveries with the bat as Archer got the ball to talk in a cracking opening spell of 1-8 from five overs – the pace bowler unfortunate to only to strike once.
He earned further reward for his pace, hostility and movement when Ravindra, who put on 63 with Mitchell for the third wicket after Overton bowled Williamson (21), pulled to Rashid at deep fine leg.
Archer then concluded a fine outing personally by dismissing Bracewell down the leg-side – New Zealand had lost 3-13 at that point with Rashid also pinning Tom Latham (2) lbw on the reverse sweep – only for Mitchell and Santner’s boundary-laden stand to put the Black Caps 2-0 up with one to play.
New Zealand’s Daryl Mitchell hit an unbeaten 56 in the series-clinching win over England
‘Disappointing to say the least’ – Brook frustrated at defeat
England captain Harry Brook:
“We have got to come back stronger and better and hopefully get at least one win against these boys who are second in the rankings.
“It is disappointing to say the least. [Conditions] are very similar to England. It does a bit with the new ball and they are nice wickets to bat on so it is just trying to get through the first 15 or 20 balls.
“We want to go out and entertain the world. It was only two or three games ago we got 400 against South Africa so it is not far away. Hopefully we can have a good game on Saturday.”
England captain Brook feels his side ‘are not far away’
Santner lauds ‘exceptional’ New Zealand
New Zealand captain Mitchell Santner:
“It was a great game from us. I thought the boys were exceptional. There probably wasn’t as much in it [the pitch] as we thought, but to restrict a team to 170 is a pretty good effort.
“Credit to Tickner, he’s a world-class bowler and kept bashing away.
“We knew it was going to be a challenging chase, especially with the likes of Carse and Archer.
“Kane [Williamson] and Rachin [Ravindra] did a hell of a job to get us through the powerplay and get a bit of momentum for us.”
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