England hammer New Zealand in rain-curtailed 2nd ODI to level series
After a comprehensive performance in the first ODI, New Zealand would have been eager to assert their dominance in the second ODI on Sunday, September 10. The match got off to a late start as incessant rain kept the teams out of the field for quite some time. Eventually, the umpires decided that the match would be a 34-over-per-side contest.
Tom Latham won the toss and elected to bowl first. Trent Boult returned to the New Zealand playing XI in what was his first ODI match in almost a year. The left-arm seamer was his usual self, swinging the ball in both directions and causing all sorts of problems for the England batters. He bagged the wickets of Jonny Bairstow, Joe Root, and Ben Stokes to reduce the hosts to 8/3 inside the first five overs. Harry Brook also departed soon as England were precariously placed at 28/4.
England captain Jos Buttler tried to counterattack but his knock of 25-ball 30 ended when he was dismissed by Mitchell Santner. Liam Livingstone joined Moeen Ali in the middle and started a fightback. The duo added 48 runs before the left-hander was dismissed trying to play a big shot off Tim Southee. Livingstone, however, continued smashing the Kiwi bowlers and rotating the strike whenever necessary.
He found a perfect partner in Sam Curran, who tried to give him as much strike as possible and also hit boundaries every now and then. The duo stitched a game-changing partnership of 102 runs in 77 balls to take England beyond 200. Livingstone remained unbeaten on 95 off 78 balls while Curran perished in the final over for a well-compiled 42 off 35 balls.
Chasing a target of 227, New Zealand lost Finn Allen for a duck. Devon Conway couldn’t get going as he was dismissed for 14 off 24 balls by Gus Atkinson. Will Young looked good for his 39-ball 33 but he was ran out thanks to some brilliant fielding from David Willey. New Zealand needed a solid partnership after being reduced to 55/3 in 11.1 overs.
A 56-run partnership between skipper Tom Latham and the in-form Darl Mitchell steadied the ship, but the last seven wickets fell for just 36 runs as Willey and Reece Topley finished with three-wicket hauls. Moeen picked up a couple of wickets while Atkinson chipped in with one scalp.
