New Zealand won the first match of the three-match series against England by 5 wickets with 19 balls remaining here at the Lords on Friday.
England gathered 227 runs for nine wickets in 50 overs and the Kiwis completed the chase by scoring 231 runs in 46.5 overs losing five wickets. Martin Guptill cracked an unbeaten 103 to steer New Zealand to a comfortable win.
New Zealand recovered from the early shock of losing two wickets in the opening over of their chase to put themselves in an excellent position to claim the first one-day international. Martin Guptill and Ross Taylor added an unbeaten 119 for the third wicket as England’s attack failed to back up the swift inroads made by James Anderson.
It was a dramatic start to the innings. Luke Ronchi, in his first innings for New Zealand, edged a full delivery to second slip where Graeme Swann took a sharp chance low to his left. Two balls later Kane Williamson was also on his way back after edging another outswinger and this time it was Jos Buttler, diving full length to his right, who clung on to leave New Zealand 1 for 2.
That could easily have reopened the wounds from the Test match here when they crumbled to 68 all out in the second innings, but this time there was an aggressive response.
It helped New Zealand’s cause that, beyond Anderson, England’s bowling with the new ball was wayward. Jade Dernbach, a late addition to the squad and only playing due to injuries to Stuart Broad and Steven Finn, went for two boundaries in his first over and, although his third was a maiden, he frequently dropped short in his opening spell.
New Zealand’s previous attempt at a run chase at Lord’s did not end well but their prospects are brighter in the first one-day international after restricting England to 227 for 9. Tim Southee, on the ground where he took ten wickets a couple of weeks ago, and Nathan McCullum – only playing because of the late absence of Daniel Vettori – were the pick of the attack as England slipped from a solid position at the midway mark.
England, who will have to defend the target without the injured Stuart Broad (knee) and Steven Finn (shins), were kept under wraps by losing wickets in batches through poor shot selection and four of the batsmen fell between 30 and 36. The openers departed in consecutive overs from Southee and then the middle order lost 3 for 9 in 17 balls after Jonathan Trott and Joe Root had set the base with a stand of 67. McCullum, who conceded just one boundary in his 10 overs, started the slide when Root was bowled reverse sweeping, a manner of dismissal later repeated by Jos Buttler as any attempt to lift the scoring was stymied.
Somewhat surprisingly, considering his success here in the Test, Southee was not given the new ball but soon had an impact when brought on as first change from the Pavilion End – where he did most of the damage with the red ball. Alastair Cook and Ian Bell had made steady progress on a morning that began cloudy but soon started to brighten. That changed in the 11th over – Southee’s third – when Bell, who had previously collected two flowing boundaries off Southee, drove without sufficient footwork and gave wicketkeeper Luke Ronchi his first catch as a New Zealand international.
In his next over, Southee struck again when Cook, like Bell, drove away from his body – much to the captain’s frustration after he had been forced to fight hard against Mitchell McClenaghan’s opening spell when the left-armer, who has not played since the one-day series in New Zealand, beat him four times in succession. Southee completed consecutive wicket maidens and ended his first spell with figure of 5-2-12-2.
