The highlights of England’s patchy batting against New Zealand in the first ODI in Cardiff were aggressive half-centuries from Jos Buttler and Liam Livingstone, along with a shaky fifty from Ben Stokes. The trio’s efforts helped England reach a par total on a difficult two-paced surface with erratic bounce.
New Zealand decided to bowl due to the venue’s preference for chasing and the risk of dew later on, and it became immediately apparent that the track wasn’t conducive to fluid strokeplay. In the end, Jason Roy’s last-minute replacement, Harry Brook, was a like-for-like replacement as the impromptu opener. He encountered challenges, too, and had trouble getting going against some tight new ball bowling from the Black Caps. The other opener, Dawid Malan, was far more composed and appeared to have his timing dialed in most of the time.
Rachin Ravindra squeezed one through Malan off his pads, breaking a strong opening stand on a surface not known for encouraging spin. In the following over, Brook was out to Lockie Ferguson as England’s innings began to sputter. Even Joe Root, who failed in his attempt to increase the scoring pace, felt the frustration.
It meant that Stokes had to work with Jos Buttler to rebuild the team when he returned for the ODIs, even though the left-hander was not at the top of his game.
Although Stokes failed in his attempt to lift the ante, the combination gave England some sort of foundation and provided the groundwork for Livingstone to make a pivotal cameo. This was a crucial inning for both the powerhitter and England because his summer form had not been the finest. Although he struggled to fully connect with the pitch, Jos Buttler continued to move forward at a healthy speed at the other end. The dismissals of the two batsmen allowed New Zealand to stop the scoring in the last over or so just as England appeared to surpass the 300-run threshold.
Brief scores: England 291/6 in 50 overs against New Zealand (Jos Buttler 72, Liam Livingstone 52, and Ben Stokes 52; Rachin Ravindra 3-48).
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