Cricket:England hammer New Zealand

Following England's victory in the Test Series and with the One-Day Series just around the corner, Head Coach Peter Moores will have been delighted to record such a comprehensive victory against a side that helped eliminate England in the group stages of the Twenty20 World Cup in South Africa last year.

It was a polished performance from start to finish by Paul Collingwood’s men as the New Zealand batsmen made heavy work of a very good wicket thanks to some excellent bowling from the England attack that saw Stuart Broad, James Anderson and Graeme Swann all rewarded with two wickets apiece.

Modest Total

From the dismissal of Jamie How with just a single run on the board, New Zealand’s innings never really got going with only opener Brendon McCullum (24), Ross Taylor (25) and Daniel Flynn (23) making telling contributions as the visitors, who lost the three match test series 2-0, recorded a modest total of 123-9 from their 20 overs.

Only a spectacular batting collapse could have grasped victory from the jaws of defeat for Daniel Vettori’s side and England were in no mood to oblige however even they would have been surprised at just how easily they set about the run chase.

Explosive and Flamboyant

After an explosive start, England had already amassed 48 of the required runs when Luke Wright, who looks to have a very promising future ahead of him, was dismissed for 24 thanks to a Mark Gillespie catch off the bowling of Michael Mason in what would be the only English wicket to fall.

If New Zealand entertained any thoughts of a recovery following Wright's dismissal the sight of Kevin Pietersen strolling to the crease gave them little cause for optimism and it wasn’t long before the flamboyant South African born batsman was building a match-winning partnership with Ian Bell who was batting beautifully at the other end.

Ravi Bopara, Paul Collingwood and Owais Shah would have all hoped to spend time at the crease, however with the pair dismantling the New Zealand attack, Bell passing his half century and Pietersen scoring at better than a run a ball in the process, the England middle order were never likely to be required as England cruised past their 123 target with 15 balls to spare.

Oram Blow

With England’s current good form in all formats of the game as well as the news that influential Kiwis hitter Jacob Oram could miss the rest of the tour with a hamstring injury, Collingwood’s men must be confident of success in the upcoming One-Day tournament which runs from the 15th to the 28th of June.

Consistency however has never been England's strong point and they will have to maintain their good standards if they are to beat a demoralised New Zealand side that is nevertheless more competitive in the 50 over format than Test or Twenty20 cricket having reached the semi-final of the ICC World Cup in the West Indies last year.

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