🔗 Share this article

A turbulently exciting match defined by batting performances that varied between brilliant to shambolic was eventually settled by Daryl Mitchell's ability to discover calm in the midst of the calamity.

Mitchell's steady innings of 78, significantly aided by Bracewell (51), transformed a side floundering at 24/3 chasing a superficially manageable total and put them on the path to success, ultimately wrapped up by a four-wicket win with 13.2 overs remaining.

Brook's Solo Stand Stands Out in Loss

But if England were eclipsed, it was their skipper, Harry Brook, who stood out by notching a hundred of exceptional skill and decision-making. His knock of 135 might not have saved his side from defeat, but it did spared them from disgrace.

It proved remarkable there was a fleeting period when New Zealand were compelled to consider the possibility of losing, given the start they made to the game.

It was an unfortunate day to be a top-order batter, with just a single player from either side's opening trio scoring above five – and England's top order unable to reach that figure collectively.

Disastrous Start for England

England began their batting with three batters who had arrived in the country just a few days earlier, while the team was in Auckland for the abandoned final fixture of the T20 series. Perhaps they have found jetlag difficult to overcome, because they batted like players afflicted by tiredness and persistent brain fog.

It did not help their acclimatization that the pace attack at the outset of England's innings was superb, from each of Matt Henry and Zak Foulkes. Smith was dismissed to the first ball of the match, Henry getting one past a half-heartedly offered bat. Next, both Ben Duckett and Joe Root fell in the next over, each for just two. He was beaten by the bowler before nicking behind, the batsman beaten by one that moved back in and crashed into middle and off.

Young bowler later removed Sam Curran for 6 to conclude just his second match with four dismissals. “Root was my favorite wicket,” he admitted. “Having grown up watching him, it felt surreal to be competing against such a player.”

Brook's Heroic Act

Only 12 balls into the day, five runs were on the board and the team's number five was at the crease. Three overs after, Bethell (two) had his off stump to a excellent delivery from Foulkes. At 10/4, the captain was already his side's highest run-getter, with 4. He later explained his mindset as he walked out: “Focus on getting set before going for big shots.” And, well, he did that. “It wasn’t the start we wanted,” he noted, “but it was a critical situation.”

At that point it required a miracle for England to reach even a vague approximation of a respectable score, and that savior's identity was Harry Brook. In any circumstances his would have been an extraordinary performance, but given the context he found himself in, it was simply exceptional. 10/4 swiftly became 33 for five and 56/6, but from the instant he appeared, he was executing his own calm game, completely separate to the one his teammates were so poorly battling.

By the time Rashid's wicket became the ninth to fall, Brook was on 85 from 73 balls and the team had 166 runs, still well short a defensible score even with Jamie Overton's contribution of 46.

He faced another 28 balls and scored precisely 50 more runs before he slog-swept Mitchell Santner to the boundary, the team's batting effort concluding on 223 with 17.1 overs remaining.

Record-Breaking Contribution

Luke Wood added 5 to a final partnership of 57 during which Brook hit seven sixes, among them three consecutive off Jacob Duffy, the final of them bringing up his second century in the ODI cricket. His 135 runs made up 60.53% of his team's score, an record for England in completed ODI innings.

“It’s definitely not a cause for concern,” Brook said about the batting of England’s top order. “They’re all unbelievable players. There’s a reason why they’re playing for England – they’re the best four batters in the country. It’s just one of them days. A couple of them got nice balls. Could we try and go a little bit harder and knock them off their lengths? I personally think so, but that’s something we can learn from this game.”

New Zealand's Response

The Black Caps' task appeared straightforward sufficiently until the second-last delivery of Brydon Carse's opening over deflected off Young's pads and into the wicket. Williamson's long-awaited return to the side ended with him edging his first delivery to Jos Buttler. Soon after, Rachin Ravindra (17) fell to Luke Wood's first ODI wicket, and his initial in List A cricket since 2019.

Then came Daryl Mitchell, and sanity. The run chase was assisted by Joe Root missing the batsman when he was on 2, Wood missing an easy chance to remove Mitchell when he was on 33, and a bit of anodyne deliveries at points. “We need to develop methods for taking wickets in the middle phase, beyond depending on Rashid’s magic,” Brook remarked.

With no wizardry forthcoming, Mitchell dug in, declined to fret, and gradually drained all uncertainty and tension out of a briefly perilous scenario.