Before Jamie Overton‘s incredible 68 off 62 balls propelled England to 222 all out at Sky Stadium in Wellington, they had experienced their third straight batting humiliation against New Zealand. Blair Tickner, Jacob Duffy, and Zak Foulkes took nine wickets between them; Overton’s first ODI fifty was the only bright spot on yet another dismal England card.
There would be no comeback for the England team with multiple eyes on the Ashes after they had already lost the series 2-0 with one game remaining. Their innings was the longest of the three at 40.2 overs, but it hardly hinted at a batting squad getting back to its best.
They fell to 44 for 5 after being inserted for the third consecutive game, and none of the top four players reached double figures. Before Overton and Brydon Carse combined for 58 from 50 balls down the order, Jos Buttler and Sam Curran put on a 53-run partnership to save some face.
Even though Overton’s greatest List A score included 10 fours and two sixes, the objective for New Zealand still appeared to be low.
In the first ODI, England had actually fallen to 33 for 5, in a worse position, but Harry Brook’s explosive 135 gave them a comparable score at which to bowl. In order to throw New Zealand “off their lengths,” England’s skipper Brook believed his teammates could have gone a little harder. However, he was caught at second slip trying to defend as England was once again found wanting in circumstances that were perfect for seam and swing.
Foulkes struck with his fourth ball after going 4 for 41 on his debut in Mount Maunganui. Although it took DRS to spot the edge, Jamie Smith had already been on the verge of being bowled by a magnificent in-ducker as he attempted to attack from the outset and then feathered behind in an attempt to cut.
In his next over, Foulkes was at it again, pinning Joe Root with an inswinger that may have stayed a bit low after Ben Duckett had swung Duffy into the boundary boards for a sixth in the third over. as that, Duckett toe-ended a swipe from Duffy to mid-on, and England was 31 for 4 inside the powerplay as Brook snagged a Duffy outswinger.
It meant that in an ODI series in which they batted at least three times, England set a world record for the fewest runs scored by a team’s top four batsmen (84).
While Jacob Bethell struggled to keep up with Foulkes’s straightening of the ball from behind the wicket, Buttler was fortunate to escape another peach from Duffy’s opening ball and was frequently beaten in the early exchanges. After nearly running himself out, Bethell smashed to third to become the first batter from England to reach double digits. However, he was dismissed by a flying catch by Daryl Mitchell at slip after another waft outside off from the first ball outside the powerplay.
England ultimately decided to retrench through Buttler and Curran after Duffy and Foulkes bowled the same during the first 14 overs. Buttler had struggled to 11 off 31 balls after hitting a couple of early boundaries before hitting Nathan Smith, the first-change bowler, through long-off.
Buttler scooped another through fine leg after charging his first ball to hit four more down the ground in Smith’s third over. Before Curran’s pull for four off Smith raised the fifty stand from 62 balls, he struck back-to-back boundaries to start the next over from Tickner.
Tickner made a breakthrough, sending the ball onto Curran’s stumps with a mix of inside edge and pad. Buttler was next bowled more forcefully by the same bowler, who nipped a full delivery inside a wide drive to collapse him off stump.
After getting off to a good start with a pulled four, Overton scored his third goal with a flat six that struck a hole in the low wall at the boundary. Carse then joined the counterattack, hitting Mitchell Santner with a slog-sweeping six for consecutive sixes. He then gave Smith the same treatment, hooking fine and then into the crowd over a deep square leg into the 30s.
Tickner won his second consecutive four-for as Jofra Archer managed a couple of boundaries before holing out to mid-on, and Carse only added one more run, top-edging a swipe high into the covers. England’s last wicket yielded 36 runs, but Overton was cruising and added two fours from Duffy and two consecutive thumps from Tickner to reach a half-century at a run-a-ball, his first in List A cricket after a career-best 46 in the first ODI.
India
