Ben Stokes shines as England cruise previous New Zealand

AFP

A record-breaking century by Ben Stokes propelled England to a crushing 181-run win over New Zealand within the third one-day worldwide on Wednesday because the hosts took a 2-1 lead within the four-match collection.

Stokes, who final month reversed his retirement from ODI cricket, hammered a 124-ball 182 to report England’s highest particular person rating within the 50-overs format, bettering Jason Roy’s earlier report of 180.

The England take a look at captain hit 9 sixes and 15 fours in an entertaining knock to raise the hosts to a complete of 368 after being put into bat at The Oval.

“Coming back into the team after a while out, it’s nice to come back and help the team,” Stokes stated.

“We spoke about putting New Zealand under pressure, especially up top. As the experienced players, you want to be showing the guys to go out there and do that.”

Left with a mountain to climb, New Zealand buckled beneath the stress within the chase as they have been bowled out for 187, with Glenn Phillips’s gritty 72 main their scoring. The solely different batter to attain greater than 20 runs was Rachin Ravindra (28).

Five England bowlers took wickets, nevertheless it was Chris Woakes who stood out as he dismissed a key trio of New Zealand batters in Will Young, Henry Nicholls and Tom Latham. Liam Livingstone additionally took three wickets whereas Reece Topley picked up two.

“We knew we had to bat well. The way they bowled in the top 10 overs, getting movement in the air and off the surface. We weren’t able to build partnerships,” New Zealand captain Latham stated.

England, who suffered a top-order collapse within the second ODI, appeared set for a similar destiny when Trent Boult dismissed Jonny Bairstow with the primary ball of the match.

Two overs later, England have been in much more hassle when Boult struck once more as Joe Root inside-edged a shot onto the stumps.

But with backs towards the wall, Stokes and Dawid Malan mixed for a large 199-run partnership, which got here to an finish when Malan departed on 96 after feathering a catch to Latham off Boult.

Stokes additionally struck up partnerships with Jos Buttler and Livingstone, however as soon as he holed out to sq. leg, England’s tailenders have been shortly mopped up by Boult and Ben Lister.

“Really pleased with the performance. There’s levels that we can keep achieving, there’s more in the tank,” England captain Buttler stated.

Boult completed with figures of 5-51 – his sixth five-wicket haul in ODIs. Lister, introduced into the crew as a substitute for the injured Adam Milne, picked up three wickets.

The ultimate ODI of the collection will probably be performed at Lord’s on Friday. The collection is essential for each side’ preparations as they look forward to subsequent month’s Cricket World Cup in India.