This would be the worst kind of reception that England would have expected from the hosts of the world cup. If what Australia did to them the other day was an injury then what New Zealand did to them today was an insult to their injury. England are hosting the next world cup and there is plenty of learning is on offer on how to be a host.
England made no change to their playing XI from what they fielded against the Aussies. Neither did New Zealand change their squad from their previous games. Learning from their previous experience, England won the toss and elected to bat first as compared to their decision to field first in previous match. The surface did look conducive to batting and Bell and Moeen Ali started with caution. Southee in his third over and England's fifth over castled Bell. Moeen Ali took the aggression path and scored three consecutive boundaries in the same over. But Soothee struck back again in the 7th over of England innings when Moeen Ali missed the ball that swung back in towards the base of the off stump. England were 36/2.
England were pushed on their back foot, Root and Ballance were left to consolidate. Boult and Milne were bowling in good lines and kept the English scoring on check. At the start of the 13th over, Ballance gave a simple catch to Williamson off Boult's bowling leaving England at 57/3. Now it was time for the out of form Eoin Morgan and Joe Root to consolidate. It was a perfect stage for Morgan to spend some time at crease and gain his form back. Root looked solid whereas Morgan looked scratchy, but still they were cruising. Finally Morgan was out caught brilliantly by Milne off the bowling of Vettori on the last ball of 26th over. England were 104/4.
With new batsman in, McCullum saw an opportunity and brought back Southee who had bowled exceptionally in the opening spell. McCullum's move worked and what we saw was an exceptional display of swing bowling by Southee that triggered the English collapse. English batsmen had no answer to Southee's deliveries. It was only Root who stood tall midst the collapse but even he fell finally bring down the curtains on the England innings. England had slumped from 104/3 to 123/10 in space of 8 overs.
Southee finished with the figures of 7 for 33 which were the third best in a World Cup, the best for New Zealand in all ODIs and only the third time a New Zealand bowler had taken a five-wicket haul in the tournament (Sir Richard Hadlee and Shane Bond being the other two). He also became the fourth bowler in this edition to take a five-for and so far has the best bowling figures in this tournament. He was supported very well by Boult, Milne and Vettori as neither of them allowed the pressure to loosen. He was also backed by McCullum's aggressive captaincy, having three or four fielder always at catching positions. Southee dismissed 4 batsmen out bowled, two caught behind; one at slip and one by keeper.
New Zealand's ground fielding led by the skipper himself complemented their bowling and did not allow any extra run to already struggling English batsmen. Even though Southee was largely responsible for the England's infamous collapse, but the trigger was Milne's fantastic running catch coming from long-on off Vettori's bowling to dismiss Eoin Morgan.
It was the second time in a row that New Zealand had dismissed their opponents well before the interval between the innings. Thus they had to come out before the interval to chase a modest 124, a target which we do not see even in a T20 contest these days. As if getting dismissed for a paltry score was not enough for an embarrassment, what was about to come was humiliation at its best.
James Anderson started the innings with a wide, which reflected the state of mind of the English team. New Zealand chased the target in 12.2 overs exactly half of what they used to chase the target by Scotland the other day, as if to make some statement. It would have been even lesser if McCullum had not been dismissed. It was England's worst defeat in terms of the number of balls remaining - 226.
It was McCullum show all the way. Even the run a ball 22 by Guptill was eclipsed by his show. McCullum treated all the bowlers who came his way with contempt. McCullum scored 15 off 8 balls from Anderson, 18 from 6 balls of Broad. It was Finn who was found the most out of favor. McCullum scored 44 off his 10 deliveries that included 4 consecutive sixes. In total, McCullum hit 7 sixes. McCullum recorded the fastest 50 in the history of the world cup and third fastest in all ODIs. He required just 18 balls. At one point of time it looked very possible that AB de Villiers 31-balls hundred was under threat. But he was bowled by a Chris Woakes full toss in the eighth over. If he had not been dismissed, New Zealand would have won even before the break which was after the ninth over.
Some other numbers to look for. The opening partnership of 105 between McCullum and Guptill was the fastest 100 runs partnership so far in this tournament coming in just 7.1 overs. It was also the 10th 100+ partnerships of this tournament. New Zealand also recorded the highest total in the powerplay so far in this edition - 116. It is 32 years since England won against New Zealand in the world cup. This record remains in tact unless the two teams meet again in the knockout and England makes amends.
The biggest question that was left unanswered today was, why the best swing bowler in England, Anderson did not bowl from the same end as Southee did?
It was simply not England's day. England Women lost to New Zealand women by 6 wickets in a T20I played at Cobham Oval (New), Whangarei, New Zealand.
It was definitely the most embarrassing day of England's one-day history, but for New Zealand on the other hand, it is three out of three in the world cup so far, reinforcing that they are definitely one of the contenders.
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