Devon Conway and Daryl Mitchell struck excellent centuries as New Zealand secured an eight-wicket victory over hosts England within the first one-day International in Cardiff on Friday to ramp up their preparations for subsequent month’s World Cup in India.
Half-centuries from Dawid Malan, Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler and Liam Livingstone had powered England to 291-6 after being put into bat at Cardiff’s Sophia Gardens.
New Zealand’s chase acquired off to a powerful begin, with Will Young and Henry Nicholls contributing runs, earlier than Conway (111 from 121 balls) and Mitchell (118 from 91) shared a shocking stand of 180.
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After each batters introduced up their 100s, the duo stepped on the fuel and Conway sealed the win in emphatic vogue with a six straight down the bottom.
“Pretty happy with way things went, nice to spend time in the middle and get the win,” Conway stated.
“The communication in the partnerships were great. I always enjoy batting with Daryl, we complement each other well. It made my job easy, just getting him on strike. Long may it continue.”
England had began properly as Harry Brook (25) and Malan (54) stitched collectively a gap partnership of 80.
After the openers departed within the span of simply 5 balls, Stokes, who reversed his retirement from ODI cricket forward of England’s title defence on the 50-overs World Cup in India, stepped in to attain 52 and maintain the momentum going.
Captain Buttler (72) and Livingstone (52) then mixed for 77, however after the 2 had been dismissed by Tim Southee in the identical over, England’s tail was unable to take them previous 300.
“Disappointing. Thought we had a pretty good score at halfway… Credit to them, it was a fantastic partnership and we couldn’t find a way to break it,” Buttler stated.
“We tried most things, for a little period we built pressure and pushed the rate to just under seven, but Daryl Mitchell played some big shots and took it away from us. Brilliant partnership.”
Though the hosts had some robust batting performances, they misplaced wickets at common intervals.
Rachin Ravindra was the decide of New Zealand’s bowlers, choosing up three wickets for 48, his finest figures up to now in his fledgling ODI profession.
The second match of the four-game sequence shall be performed on the Rose Bowl in Southampton on Sunday.
Source: sportstar.thehindu.com