New Zealand responded to their test series defeat by beating England in the 1st ODI at Lords by 5 wickets thanks to the superb batting of Martin Guptill. The Kiwi batsman scored an unbeaten 103 with a boundary to finish and give New Zealand victory.
It was Kiwi captain Brendon McCullum who won the toss at Lords, but opted to put England into Bat. The Three Lions started comfortably, with both Captain Alastair Cook and Ian Bell easing their way into their innings until Bell was caught by Ronchi from a Southee delivery on 18; and Cook falling to the same combination on 30. From 45-0; England fell to 50-2. On form batsman Joe Root and Jonathan Trott steadied the ship until Root fell to the hands of McCullum. McCullum then took his second wicket as Trott was caught by Ross Taylor. Eion Morgan, who has been prolific for England in recent ODIs, fell for just 6 and England were now 126-5. Further down the order, Woakes and Bresnan added to the England total scoring 36 and 25 respectively. England ended their innings with an under par score of 227-9 after 50 overs.
The New Zealand innings started appallingly as both Ronchi and Williamson both went out for ducks. Before you could blink New Zealand were 1-2. However, two excellent batting performances from Ross Taylor and Martin Guptill arguably won the Kiwis the match as they together formed a 125 run partnership before Taylor was eventually caught out by Buttler. Anderson therefore claimed his three wicket of the match to again score a respective bowling average of 3-31 off 9 overs with an economy of 3.44. However, it was to be Guptill’s innings although at one point he was nearly caught out. The opener kept his head to score a magnificent century to give New Zealand a 1-0 series lead with 2 games to play.
For England; much thinking is needed before the second ODI in Southampton on Sunday- perhaps it’s the new red kit that is to blame…
Liam Richner 