New Zealand 359-3 England 273
Result: New Zealand won by 86 runs
Martin Guptill has rewritten the record books as he lead the BLACKCAPS to a 86-run victory and a one day series win against England.
The match-winner from Lord’s delivered one of the finest batting displays in the black strip as he finished unbeaten on 189 in Southampton today – the highest ever score for a Kiwi in a One Day International.
After Guptill drove, sliced and smashed New Zealand to a record score against England of 359-3 in the second of the three match series, the home side struggled to match the seven runs per over required to claim the win.
After the five wicket victory at Lord’s on Friday, today’s win at the Ageas Bowl meant the Kiwis wrapped up the series with one game in hand and gave them the ideal lead-in to the ICC Champions Trophy starting in a week.
In his low key way, Guptill said it was a special day and made even more memorable to celebrate his 100 at the wicket with his great mate Ross Taylor, who gave him a huge hug at the milestone.
After the match Guptill was surprised to be told of all the records he had collected. His magical innings of 189 not out was by far the highest from a Kiwi in an ODI, surpassing Lou Vincent’s 172 against Zimbabwe in 2005. His innings, featuring 19 fours and two sixes with a strike rate of 122, went to no. 6 on the ODI highest scores list equalling an effort from the great Viv Richards.
The 26-year-old said afterwards that it was even more meaningful to take the record off Vincent, who he had played a lot of cricket with in Auckland.
Earlier in the day BLACKCAPS captain Brendon McCullum won the toss and chose to bat first under the blue skies. Opener Luke Ronchi didn’t last long in his New Zealand second match making just two runs before he was bowled by James Anderson, but that was the only luck for the home side early on.
Kane Williamson made amends for his duck at Lord’s with a great partnership with Guptill as the pair took the total to 132 before Williamson was bowled for 55 by Graeme Swann.
Ross Taylor carried on where he left off at Lord’s as he knocked up a quick-fire 60 off 54 balls to continue the momentum in an 109-run partnership with Guptill. He was eventually caught on the boundary by Chris Woakes off Anderson. During that partnership Guptill brought up his second consecutive 100 after his match-winning 103 at Lord’s.
Brendon McCullum promoted himself up the order and he delivered on his master blaster role with 40 off 19 balls at the death. Guptill lifted a gear in the company of McCullum as he raced through to 150 and edged closer to the majestic 200 but sadly ran out of overs.
It was a day when records fell almost at the same pace as runs were scored. Firstly McCullum moved into third on the all-time New Zealand ODI runs list overtaking Chris Cairns to move into third on 4920 runs.
The BLACKCAPS total of 359 also rewrote the record books as the highest ever against England in an ODI and the sixth highest overall, with the five above all against much lower ranked nations – Ireland, Zimbabwe and Canada.
The total left England needing to make the second highest run chase in ODI history to collect the win, and the openers certainly started with this in the front of their minds. Alastair Cook hit five fours before he went for 34 bowled by Kyle Mills, and Ian Bell followed not long after caught by James Franklin off the bowling of Bracewell.
Joe Root continued to push the run rate on before he went for 28 smashing a Doug Bracewell delivery to Nathan McCullum on the boundary. The wickets continued to fall at frequent intervals with only Jonathan Trott scoring higher than 34.
Grant Elliott grabbed his first wicket with just his second delivery getting Eoin Morgan caught behind by Ronchi while Jos Buttler went three runs later caught by Guptill off the bowling of Mitchell McClenaghan.
Ronchi made amends for a couple of earlier missed stumping chances as he knocked Woakes’ bails off from the bowling of Williamson. Williamson then snatched two more, firstly running out Tim Bresnan with a fine direct throw and then clean bowling Graeme Swann.
The home side’s run chase came to a premature end 86 runs short of the target with the wickets of Anderson and Dernbach. Trott finished unbeaten on a meritorious 109 but he was very much the lone ranger in the English effort.
The third and final match of the series is at Trent Bridge in Nottingham on Wednesday.
