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A chaotically entertaining game characterised by batting that was either – and mostly – shambolic or sensational was eventually settled by a belated outbreak of calm.
Daryl Mitchell’s sober 78 not out, most notably assisted by Michael Bracewell (51), took a side floundering at 24 for three and set them on the path to victory, ultimately wrapped up by four wickets and with 13.2 overs to spare.
But if England were eventually eclipsed it was their captain, Harry Brook, who shone brightest in compiling a century of phenomenal skill and judgement. His 135 runs might not have saved his side from defeat, but it did rescue them from humiliation.
It was remarkable that there was even a brief moment when New Zealand were forced to ponder the possibility of losing here, given the start they made to the game. But this was not a day to be a top-order batter, with only one member of either side’s top three scoring more than five and England’s not reaching that number between them.
The tourists opened their innings with three batters who had arrived in the country just a few days previously, while the team was in Auckland for the washed-out final fixture of the T20 series. Perhaps they have found jetlag hard to shake off, because they batted like men blighted by bleary eyes and persistent brain fog.
It did not help their acclimatisation that the bowling at the start of England’s innings was exceptional, from both Matt Henry and Zak Foulkes. Jamie Smith fell to the first ball of the series, Henry sneaking one past a half-heartedly proffered bat. Then both Ben Duckett and Joe Root went in the next over, both for just two runs.
Duckett was squared up by Foulkes before edging behind, Root beaten by one that moved back in sharply and crashed into middle and off. With 12 balls bowled, five runs were on the board and England’s No 5 was at the crease. Three overs later, Jacob Bethell lost his off stump to another superb delivery from Foulkes. Four wickets down and Brook was already his team’s top scorer, with four.
From there it took a miracle for England to reach even a vague approximation of a respectable score, and that miracle’s name is Harry Brook. In any circumstances his would have been an extraordinary innings, but given the one he found himself in it was simply magnificent. Ten for four swiftly became 33 for five and 56 for six, but from the moment he arrived Brook was playing his own serene game, entirely unrelated to the one his teammates were so miserably struggling in.
By the time Adil Rashid’s wicket became the ninth to fall, Brook was on 85 off 73 and England had 166, still well short of a competitive total despite Jamie Overton’s 46. Brook faced another 28 deliveries and added precisely 50 more runs before he slog-swept Mitchell Santner to deep midwicket, England’s innings ending on 223 with 17.1 overs unbowled.
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Luke Wood contributed five to a last-wicket stand of 57, during which Brook hit seven sixes, among them three in a row off Jacob Duffy, the last of them bringing up his second century in the format, as New Zealand searched with mounting desperation for a way of controlling him. His 135 runs constituted 60.53% of his team’s total, an English record in completed ODI innings.
The Black Caps’ task appeared straightforward enough until the penultimate ball of Brydon Carse’s first over flicked off Will Young’s pads and into the stumps, and Kane Williamson’s long-awaited return to the national team ended with him edging his first delivery to Jos Buttler. Soon thereafter Rachin Ravindra (17) became Luke Wood’s first ODI wicket, and his first in List A cricket since 2019.
Enter Mitchell, and sanity. New Zealand had no need to hurry and he was not tempted to, as – assisted by Root dropping Bracewell when he was on two and Wood, inexplicably, Mitchell himself when he was on 33 – all doubt and drama was gradually sucked out of a briefly perilous situation.
