Ross Taylor’s unbeaten century and a timely rain interruption helped New Zealand secure a 13-run win over England in a high-scoring one-day international on Friday, tying the five-match series at 1-1.
Underpinned by a 96-ball 119 from Taylor, New Zealand smashed 13 sixes to compile 398-5 — its second-highest total in 50-over cricket — and set a daunting target for England at The Oval.
England was going well at 345-7 after 43.5 overs, needing 54 more runs off 37 balls, when play was suspended because of rain. When the match resumed 45 minutes later, the hosts were set a tough revised target of 379 — or 34 runs off 13 balls — using the Duckworth-lewis method and they finished on 365-9. “Neither team deserved to lose and the weather probably helped us a bit,” New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum said.
England won the first ODI in Birmingham by 210 runs, after scoring a national-record 408-9. And its chase of New Zealand three days later — during which captain Eoin Morgan cracked 88 off 47 balls — showed the new-look England is a team to be feared in the shorter format. “Four hundred should be plenty,” McCullum said, “but England are playing a completely different brand of cricket now.”
Taylor’s 13th ODI century included 10 fours and four sixes, while Kane Williamson struck 93 to just miss out on a seventh ODI hundred.
The Black Caps closed four runs short of their ODI record — 402-2 against Ireland in 2008 — after England stemmed the flow of boundaries in the last five overs.
Jason Roy (39) and Alex Hales (54) put on 85 for the first wicket in a great start to the chase before Joe Root (6) and Hales departed in the space of three balls. England was reduced to 100-3 but was staying close to the required run rate thanks to Morgan’s superb shot-making that brought the captain six sixes and six fours.
Big-hitting from Adil Rashid and liam Plunkett kept England in with a chance, only for rain to arrive with 6.1 overs left. At that time, the run rate needed was around 9 but when England resumed, it had almost doubled because of Duckworth-lewis.
Plunkett (44) was out slogging to Boult, who was then part of a marvelous piece of fielding to remove Rashid for 34. Tim Southee took a stunning catch at deep mid-on but flicked ball toward Boult because he was about to step over boundary edge. Boult reacted well to leap and take a one-handed catch on the stretch.
Brief Scores NZ: 398/5 (Taylor 119*, Williamson 93) beat Eng: 365/9 (Morgan 88, Hales 54, McCullum 3/86) by 13 runs via D/l method.
Anderson gets OBE honour
Fast bowler James Anderson has been honoured by the Queen after becoming England cricket’s leading Test wicket-taker. Anderson was named an Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the annual Queen’s birthday honours list. “This means an enormous amount to me and my family. I’m very proud of my recent achievements and this just caps it off,” Anderson was quoted as saying by cricket.com.au on Saturday. The honour caps an impressive 12 months for the 32-year-old rafter he overtook Ian Botham’s mark of 383 scalps to become his country’s leading Test wicket-taker during England’s drawn series in the West Indies. Anderson became the the first England bowler to take 400 Test wickets — Test cricket’s 12th overall — in the Headingley defeat to New Zealand.