Jos Buttler hit 47* off 16 balls in an inspired last 5 overs of batting from England as they beat New Zealand by 34 runs at Trent Bridge. New Zealand take the series 2-1 but it will be England who will take confidence going into the upcoming ICC Champions Trophy. New Zealand won the toss and elected to bowl. This seemed to be a good decision as England were on the back foot at 210-5 but England scored 82 runs in the last 5 overs of their innings to set a high total of 287-6. Ross Taylor hit 71 runs in reply but it was not enough as New Zealand were all out for 253.
It was a bad start for England as captain Alistair Cook (0) was dismissed early on after unsuccessfully reviewing an lbw decision. Jonathan Trott (37) and Ian Bell (82) then steadily guided England to 69-1 before Mclenagan got his second wicket of the day, catching Trott lbw. Bell and Joe Root (33) provided another fifty partnership but some poor running saw Root run out, leaving England 149-3. Bell shortly followed after being caught playing a drive as Mclenaghan took his third wicket of the day. Ravi Bopara (28) and Eoin Morgan (49) put on another fifty partnership before Bopara was caught on the boundary as England were left on 210-5. Suddenly, Morgan and Jos Buttler (47*) provided some fireworks out of nowhere as they raced to their fifty partnership from only 20 balls. The crowd became much more vocal as Buttler smashed six after six to hit 47* off 16 balls. Morgan was run out with three balls remaining but Buttler hit a further two sixes to put England in control as they finished on 287-6 after 50 overs.
Chasing 288 runs, New Zealand got off to a fast start as they raced to 39-0 after six overs. However, Broad got his man as Ronchi (22) was caught in the field. A huge wicket fell to leave New Zealand 70-2 as Tredwell bowled Martin Guptill (38). The tourists were then left on the back foot as a further two quick wickets fell. Kane Williamson (19) was out lbw before Munro (0) edged behind for a golden duck, leaving the visitors on 97-4. It looked as if England would ease to victory as Brendan McCullum (6) edged behind whilst Franklin (7) was caught at gulley to leave New Zealand 122-6. However, the game became interesting as Ross Taylor (71) and Nathan McCullum (28) put on a fifty partnership to help the visitors to 175-6. N. McCullum was then caught in the field as the tourists tried to increase the run rate. Tim Southee (15) added some more runs before being caught in the field. New Zealand eventually found themselves needing 53 runs off 44 balls. It became very tense for England as New Zealand looked like they might get the required runs but Taylor was impressively caught on the boundary by Steven Finn. It was soon all over as Mclenaghan (4) was caught to leave New Zealand all out on 253. England will take confidence out of the match going into the ICC Champions trophy.
Performance of the Day: Jos Buttler for entertaining the crowd and proving to be the difference in this game with an outstanding 47* off 16 balls.
Performance of the Series: Martin Guptill for consistently scoring heavily with knocks of 100*, 189* and 38. Pretty much won the first two matches by himself for New Zealand and therefore the series.
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