Chris Stocks looks at the sea-change in England’s ODI fortunes since a disastrous World Cup three years ago
The last time Joe Root played in Wellington,almost three years to the day at the 2015 WorldCup, he scored a century but still saw England slump to a humiliating defeat by Sri Lanka.
This time the vibe around England’s one-day team is rather different.
Twin defeats in Wellington in the space of a fortnight in that tournament, New Zealand also thrashed Eoin Morgan’s men after bowling them out for 123 and chasing down the runs in 12.2 overs, were ground zero moments for English one-day cricket and Morgan as captain in particular.
New Zealand might not have the giant presence of Brendon McCullum any more, their former captain who hit 77 from 25 balls during England’s defenestration at the aptly nicknamed cylindrical, silver coloured Cake Tin three years ago.
But it was ‘Baz’, as he is known in these parts, who offered Morgan a new way of thinking in limited-overs cricket.
England have not looked back since beating New Zealand in the first ODI series that followed their first-round exit from the World Cup in 2015. Aggression, freedom and, above all, fun are at the forefront of everything they do in 50-over cricket now.
That’s why they will return to the Cake Tin tomorrow without any demons and with confidence they can take a 2-1 lead in the series after squaring it with a superb victory in Mount Maunganui on Wednesday.
This story is from the March 02,2018 edition of The Cricket Paper.
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This story is from the March 02,2018 edition of The Cricket Paper.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
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