For the second time in four days, England’s blundering with the bat doomed them to defeat, the tourists skittled for just 175 to leave New Zealand with less of a chase than a stroll.
Half-centuries from Rachin Ravindra and Daryl Mitchell carried the Black Caps to a victory sealed with nearly 17 overs to spare, England consigned to a ninth consecutive away defeat in ODIs, and a sixth lost series in their last seven attempts.
“It’s pretty obvious we didn’t get enough runs – 175 against the second-best team in the world on their own patch is never going to be enough,” the England captain, Harry Brook, said. “We’ve got some of the best players in the world and we just haven’t performed as well as we could have done. New Zealand have just outplayed us.”
The good news for England was the form of Jofra Archer in his first appearance of the winter, though amid the encouragement there was also a jolt of fear as he got up wincing, clutching his side and mouthing profanities after diving in the outfield during the 10th over of New Zealand’s innings.
Archer had by then bowled five superlative overs for just eight runs as New Zealand, in no hurry as they set off towards their meagre target, sought little more against him than survival. Will Young did not manage that, trapped lbw for a duck four balls into his team’s innings.
“It’s a hell of a challenge,” Ravindra said of facing Archer. “You know if you can get through his spell, you can get through most spells in the world. We just grafted our way through. I don’t know how much we were on after four or five overs, but it must have been single digits still.”
Archer returned to at one point provoke a run of 20 balls without a run being scored, bowling in tandem with Adil Rashid, and to claim the wickets of Ravindra (54) – who dumped a hook into the hands of Rashid soon after reaching his half-century – and Michael Bracewell (five), whose gloves flicked the bowler’s last delivery of the night.
The bowler finished with figures of three wickets for 23 runs in 10 overs; Sam Curran managed to concede more (26 runs) in just three. Brook, presumably grateful for something positive to talk about, described Archer as “awesome”, “just mega” and “an X-factor player”.
Archer completed his allocation leaving Mitchell still at the crease, though, and that is rarely good news for England. The 34-year-old has an outstanding record in this format but saves his best for encounters with the English. He now boasts one century and two fifties in six innings against them, three of them unbeaten, with an obnoxiously good average of 110. It was he and Mitchell Santner (34) who eventually powered their side to the win, thrashing 48 between them off the last 19 balls.
England’s failures with the bat were particularly disheartening given New Zealand were without their premium fast bowler, Matt Henry, who was diagnosed with a calf injury on the morning of the match. In his absence, Blair Tickner returned to the side after an absence of more than two years and took four wickets, dismissing Joe Root in his first over of the night before coming back to mop up the tail.
England’s innings lasted precisely four balls longer than the tourists’ effort in the opening game at Mount Maunganui on Sunday, and yielded 48 fewer runs. They simply chose a different way to self-destruct here, though the top order again misfired, leaving Jamie Overton to come in at No 8 and top-score with 42.
Of the batters preparing to turn their attention to the Ashes after this series ends on Saturday, Brook again stood out – though being able to do so while scoring only 34 is not hugely encouraging. Root, Jamie Smith and Jacob Bethell at least made it to double figures, if not then much further, scoring 25, 13 and 18 respectively.
Smith was caught off a leading edge while trying to heave through midwicket. “I’d rather him go out like that than nicking off trying to defend,” said Brook. Ben Duckett, as it happens, did nick off trying to defend and his contribution to the series currently stands at three runs off nine balls across two innings, his stay at the crease here as awkward and underwhelming as those statistics.
