Daryl Mitchell and Devon Conway centuries helped New Zealand to get the victory over England by 8 wickets. These two took the chase easy and made it done quite easily.
It was the first ODI match. Already the T20 series between these two teams ended in a draw (2-2).
England scored 291/6 in 50 overs which New Zealand chased down easily in 45.4 overs and scored 297/2.
After winning the toss New Zealand invited England to bat.
England got a pretty good start as Dawid Malan (54 runs) and Harry Brook (25 runs) provided 80 runs for the first wicket. Ben Stokes (52 runs) who played his first one day international after approx 2 years was looking in a good touch and scored healthy runs.
Jos Butler (72 runs) and Liam Livingstone (52 runs) provided some useful runs in the end. Butler hit 5 fours and 2 sixes while Livingstone hit 3 fours and 3 sixes. David Willey (21 runs) in the end showed some destruction due to which England ended close to 300. They put 291 runs in 50 overs by losing 6 wickets.
Rachin Ravindra took 3 useful wickets at the start of the line up. Tim Southee took 2 wickets at the end of the innings by sending the pavilion Butler and Livingstone. Lockie Ferguson got 1 wicket.
Kiwi batters also get a good start. Will Young (29 runs) and Devon Conway (111 runs) put 61 runs for the 1st wicket. After that Conway and Daryl Mitchell (118 runs) made together 180 runs for the 3rd wicket and took their team to an easy win over the home team. Conway hit 13 fours and a six in his innings whereas Daryl hit 7 fours and 7 sixes in his knock. Daryl shows some destructiveness after being set in the crease. He was a little uncomfortable at the beginning but after being set he looks good.
They easily got the score in 45.4 overs and scored 297 runs by losing only 2 wickets.
David Willey and Adil Rashid got 1 wicket each. In fact Rashid was the favourite of Daryl as he was highly expensive in front of him.
Devon Conway, New Zealand, Player of the Match
“We thought it was just above par. We thought par was 270. For us, as a batting group, focus was on building partnerships. The mice thing about ODIs is you have more time than you think. I always enjoy batting alongside Daryl. He hits a lot of boundaries. Made my job easier.”
Jos Butler, England Captain
“Disappointing. Halfway I thought we had a decent score. Most of us were finding it difficult to time the ball. Just couldn’t find a way to break that partnership. We tried most things. For a little period we built pressure nicely. Strung some good overs. But Mitchell played a few big shots and got it over us again.
Impetus Livingstone gave us the innings and got us to a score that I thought was over par. Have to look after a few people the way the schedule is. But I also want to play good cricket.”
Tom Latham, New Zealand Captain
“Outstanding I think. Didn’t necessarily get the wickets we wanted upfront but pulled things back. Seeing a partnership of 180 – the way they played was outstanding on that wicket. It was slower than what we thought it might be.
Towards the end guys bowling into the surface and using the big boundaries. The way they absorbed pressure at the start of the partnership and then put their foot down. Hats off to those two guys. Will give the guys opportunities throughout the series at some point.”