The England cricket team has defeated New Zealand in the third ODI match played at Trent Bridge, Nottingham. England won the match by 34 runs.
With this win, England restored some pride. Now, they can go into the Champions Trophy with a much better mindset.
The Kiwi skipper, Brendon McCullum, won the toss and elected to bowl first. England lost its first wicket early in the form of Alastair Cook.
Cook got out leg before wicket off the bowling of Mitchell McClenaghan.
Because of the early departure of Cook, England couldn’t take full advantage of the first 10 overs. Bell and Trott were playing with a cautious approach and as a result, the run rate was a bit low.
The Warwickshire pair of Bell and Trott added 66 runs for the second wicket off 94 balls. That pair was split by McClenaghan who dismissed Trott at the score of 37.
Bell put another half century stand with Joe Root for the 3rd wicket which put England in a very good position.
But, Bell and Root got dismissed in a space of 5 deliveries which brought the Kiwis back into the contest.
The comeback man Ravi Bopara tried to steady the ship and played a sensible inning of 20 odd, but, he was not able to tee off. When he got out on the 5th ball of the 46th over, the score of England was just 210 and even reaching a score of 250 was not looking easy from that position.
But, the England wicketkeeper Jos Buttler came out to bat at no. 7 and with his power hitting, he changed the whole complexion of the game. He scored 47 off just 16 balls with 6 fours and 3 sixes and took England to a score of 287.
In reply, New Zealand started well, but, the English spinners got some quick wickets in the middle overs and put pressure on the Kiwis.
Ross Taylor built a couple of useful stands with the tail-enders and kept New Zealand’s hopes alive, but, Tredwell got rid of him in the 43rd over when the score of New Zealand was 235 and with that wicket, the game was almost over.
The last Kiwi pair couldn’t do much and New Zealand got all out on 253.