Demons dispatched in record ODI success
ENGLAND skipper Eoin Morgan is adamant that yesterday’s audacious 210-run victory over New Zealand at Edgbaston is proof that his new-look side can conquer their perennial nemesis of one-day cricket.
Records tumbled as the flamboyant hosts smashed their highest ever limited-overs total of 408-9, as Jos Buttler top scored with a typically swashbuckling 129 and Joe Root struck 104.
England then recorded their most clinical ODI success in terms of victory margin by routing the World Cup finalists for 198 in the 32nd over, with seamer Steven Finn and leg-spinner Adil Rashid claiming four wickets apiece. It was all a far cry from England’s abject demise at the World Cup which culminated in a group-stage exit following defeat to Bangladesh in March. England take a 1-0 lead into the second clash of a five-match series at the Kia Oval on Friday.
“You can look back and say what you want to about the World Cup. Myself, I am looking forward and I am really excited,” said Morgan. “Today encouraged me even more to look further down the line and give guys more of a chance to grow as cricketers.
“There are about 90-95 one-dayers before the next World Cup and the more games we can get into our youngsters before then, the more experienced performances they can put in, the more we win along the way, it holds a lot of weight come the next World Cup.”
Playing a brand of cricket which has long been the preserve of other countries, Root set the pace and ended the day having notched the fourth quickest ODI century by an England batsman, while also sharing a stand of 121 with half-centurion Morgan.
Buttler hit the second fastest, off just 66 deliveries, and shared a seventh-wicket stand of 177 – an ODI record – with Rashid, who scored 69, in only 17.3 overs. Set an almost impossible victory target, only once has a score of 400 or more been successfully chased, New Zealand saw their inspirational captain Brendon McCullum fall early to Finn.
It proved a modicum of revenge for the Middlesex seamer, who was hit for four successive sixes by McCullum in the World Cup clash between the two sides in Wellington, as Finn was brutally dispatched for 49 runs off two overs.
The tourists did show fight. Ross Taylor scored 57 and Kane Williamson 45, before the latter became the first victim of Rashid, who later snared three further wickets as New Zealand lost their last six for just 13 runs.
ENGLAND’S ONE-DAY RECORDS IN NUMBERS
129 Jos Buttler’s enthralling knock was the highest ODI score by a No6 batsman for England.
408-9 England’s highest ODI score, which surpassed 391-4 against Bangladesh at Trent Bridge in 2005. Their next best was 363-7 v Pakistan
210 England’s biggest winning margin in their ODI history
177 Seventh-wicket stand between Buttler and Rashid highest in ODIs
14 The most sixes scored by England during an ODI innings. Buttler hit five and Morgan three. There were two apiece for Root, Rashid and Liam Plunkett