ENG vs NZ, 1st ODI | Conway-Mitchell Twin Centuries Crush England In Series Opener

Devon Conway scored his fourth ODI century. [PC: X]

Riding on the back of a disciplined day with the ball, followed by two magnificent centuries from Devon Conway and Daryl Mitchell, New Zealand beat England by 8 wickets in the First ODI of the four-match series at Sophia Gardens in Cardiff. The visitors lost to make a mark in the T20I series but have started brilliantly in the ODIs, eyeing their first series win in England since 2013

Middle order flourish propels England to a formidable total

Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler for England. [PC: X]

Earlier, after being asked to bat first, England’s new opening pair of Harry Brook and Dawid Malan got themselves off to a flying start. Malan, specifically, managed to score briskly throughout the powerplay and went on to complete his half century in just 48 balls. England got the much needed early foundation from the openers and New Zealand were desperate for wickets.

Following the powerplay, captain Tom Latham introduced Rachin Ravindra into the attack and the young left-arm spinner managed to send back Malan in his very first over. Brook, who was struggling to pace his innings lost his wicket as well, which was followed by Joe Root’s wicket and England were reduced to 101/3.

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New Zealand found themselves back on their feet after three quick England wickets which was followed by some rescue work from England’s two crisis men Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler. Stokes, who was playing his first ODI after coming out of retirement, departed after a well made half century.

Liam Livingstone also joined the party with a quick half century as England were cruising towards a 300-plus total. However, Tim Southee and his men got a couple of important wickets late in the innings as they managed to restrict England to 291 for 6 in 50 overs. Rachin Ravindra was easily the pick of the bowlers for the Kiwis as he scalped three wickets and gave away just 4.8 runs per over.

Conway, Mitchell centuries guides New Zealand home

Daryl Mitchell and Devon Conway for New Zealand. [PC: X]

Chasing 292, New Zealand got off to a flying start as Will Young and Devon Conway managed to add 61 runs for the first wicket inside the powerplay. It took an Adil Rashid’s cracker of a delivery to get the first breakthrough as Will Young was sent back in the very first ball after the powerplay.

Henry Nicholls joined Conway in the middle and added another 50-run partnership for the second wicket. The Kiwis were not only scoring runs at a good rate but they were managing to do so without losing any wickets. David Willey did come back into the attack and removed Nicholls before he did any more damage but what followed after that was nothing less than a nightmare for Buttler and his men.

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Daryl Mitchell, at four, joined Conway in the middle and went on to put on an unbeaten 180-run stand. The asking rate was very much in control and the tag team started to put more pressure on the bowlers by finding boundaries at regular intervals. England failed to repeat New Zealand’s trick of using the slowness of the surface in the second half of the innings.

Eventually, both Conway and Mitchell completed their centuries and New Zealand got across the line comfortably with more than four overs to spare. Both the teams will now come up against each other in Southampton for the second ODI on Sunday, September 10th.

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Brief scores

England - 291/6 (50 overs)

Jos Buttler 72 (68), Dawid Malan 54 (53);

Rachin Ravindra 3-48 (10), Tim Southee 2-71(10)

New Zealand 297/2 (45.4)

Devon Conway 111* (121), Daryl Mitchell 118* (91);

David Willey 1-32 (10), Adil Rashid 1-70 (8)

New Zealand won by 8 wickets