BLACKCAP v England

Posted: Friday, 2 March 2018

It was an outstanding day (and night) at the Bay Oval at Mount Maunganui on Wednesday, when "our" Black Caps and England went into head to head battle, in game two of the five match series. As radio commentator Bryan Waddle forecast "England have to come back hard after (defeat) Hamilton.

English captain Eoin Morgan won the toss and asked New Zealand to bat on a track that looked to have plenty of runs in it. The English bowlers were quickly into their stride and had two New Zealand batsmen back in the pavilion, with just 9 runs on the board. A brilliant throw down of the stumps saw Ross Taylor removed for just ten. The Taylor removal was the first of four run-outs in the encounter, with the visitor’s red-hot in the field.

Martin Guptil settled in to give his side some stability, before being dismissed for a neat half century with the score at 79/4. The English bowlers had their tails up and at 108 for the loss of seven wickets, the Black Cap batting attack was in dire straits. Mitchell Santner batting at eight and tail-ender Lockie Ferguson, restored some New Zealand pride, with Santner top scoring with 63 not out. When New Zealand were bowled out for 223, with four balls to spare in their innings, England were well and truly in control.

During the break between innings we caught up with two English supporters. Bill Hanson from Nottingham and Peter O'Hara who hails from Leeds, were part of a small tour party who are in the country for a quick fire 16 days to catch the first four ODI 's in the series. They both were highly complementary of the Bay Oval, with Peter saying it reminded him of the beautiful county grounds at Cheltenham and Scarborough.

There was general agreement from the two visiting cricket fans, that Chris Woakes was their pick of the English bowlers. Both said there was everything to make a really successful tour - "Good accommodation, good food and extremely friendly locals".

While England lost their first wicket at the 15 run mark, their striking of the ball and shot placement, forecast ominous signs for the Black Caps. A substantial partnership between captain Eion Morgan (62) and Ben Stokes who finished with an unbeaten 63 runs to his name, put England in the box seat. The end came in the 37th over for the loss just four wickets, with the near sell-out crowd having an earlier night than they would have anticipated on arriving at the ground.

The best catch of the match came late in the encounter, when a Western Bay B Grade player snared a catch with a text book one-handler, to scoop a dollop of money in the catch-a-million promotion that has been running through the summer.

ICC ODI at @ Bay Oval, Mount Maunganui – 28 February 2018

New Zealand Black Caps 223 (MJ Santner 63, MJ Guptil 50, C de Grandhomme 38, TWM Latham 22; MM Ali 2/33, BA Stokes 2/42, CL Woakes 2/53) lost to England 225/4 (BA Stokes 63no, EJG Morgan 62, JC Butler 36no; TA Boult 2/46)

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