Exactly three years ago, England cricket team registered their largest margin of ODI victory (by runs) as they defeated New Zealand by 210 runs in the first ODI of New Zealand’s tour of England in 2015 at Edgbaston, Birmingham. It was England’s first match which yielded a result after their dismal performance in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015. Additionally, the match brought a new dawn to their limited-overs fortune.
Brendon McCullum, the then New Zealand captain, had won the toss and chose to field. Trent Boult supported his captain’s decision as he drew first blood in the form of Jason Roy (0) on the first ball of the match. Alex Hales and Joe Root stood tall on England’s plan of taking on the bowlers. Without being bogged down by the dismissal, the duo hit boundaries in the subsequent overs.
Despite losing Hales (20) in the eighth over, England scored 68-2 in the first 10 overs. It was at this point in time that Root and Eoin Morgan (50) stitched a 121-run partnership for the third wicket. What worked best for the hosts was the fact that the stand came off 93 balls.
On the first delivery of the following over, with a double down the ground off Matt Henry, Root completed in what was his fifth ODI century. Coming off just 71 balls, it was his fastest ODI hundred. What followed Root’s hundred was the last thing that England would have wanted at that point in time. England lost three quick wickets in the overs to come, with Root (104) being the first man to go.
At the end of the 30-over mark, New Zealand’s left-arm bowlers had reduced England to 202-6. Playing their full quota of 50 overs had become their biggest concern. In what came as a match-winning partnership, Jos Buttler and Adil Rashid (69) stitched a 177-run (off 105 balls) partnership for the seventh wicket. In the process, Buttler scored his second ODI hundred, 129 (77), with the help of 13 fours & five sixes.
Buttler’s brutal assault aided England to cross the 400-run mark for the first time in ODIs as they ended up scoring 408-9 in 50 overs. For New Zealand, with bowling figures of 10-0-55-4, Boult was the pick of the bowlers. Watch the highlights of their innings:
The English bowlers registered a formidable performance which saw them dismissing the opposition for 198 in 31.1 overs. Ross Taylor, who came in to bat at No. 4 for the visitors, top-scored with 57 (100). With bowling figures of 7-1-35-4, Steven Finn was the hosts’ highest wicket-taker.
