Taylor ton eclipses Stokes’ return
HAMILTON: A century by Ross Taylor and lusty late hitting by Mitch Santner delivered a last-over victory to New Zealand over England in their first one-day international in Hamilton on Sunday.
In a match filled with twists and turns, the outcome hung in the balance until Santer smacked a six in the final over to get New Zealand home with four balls to spare.
Domination fluctuated throughout the match but when Ben Stokes celebrated his return to international cricket with the crucial wicket of Tom Latham, it appeared to put England in charge. However, Santner’s 45 off 27 balls swung the game back in New Zealand’s favour as they chased down England’s 284 for eight.
New Zealand were in immediate trouble at the start of their run chase as they fell to three for 27 in the 10th over.
Taylor, with his 18th century, and Latham clawed the home side back into the game with a 178-run stand for the fourth wicket before Stokes stepped up to remove Latham for 79 and New Zealand were 205 for four in the 40th over.
Latham’s dismissal sparked a middle-order collapse with Henry Nicholls out for a duck and Colin de Grandhomme gone for two as three wickets fell for 10 runs.
As he started to run out of part- ners, Taylor tried to up the pace to get New Zealand home but with 25 balls remaining and New Zealand needing a further 45 runs, he was stumped on 113.
But if England had a whiff of victory, Santner had other ideas with a rapid two fours and four sixes to get New Zealand home. Stokes, returning for his first international since a nightclub incident five months ago, was gone for 12.
New Zealand were in trouble at the start when Colin Munro belted a six off the second ball he faced and was gone two balls later without adding to his score. Kane Williamson only managed eight off 23 balls and Martin Guptill went for 13.
Brief scores: England 284-8 in 50 overs ( J Roy 49, J Root 71, J Buttler 79, T Boult 2-64, M Santner 2-54) lost to New Zealand 287-7 in 49.2 overs (R Taylor 113, T Latham 79, M Santner 45*, C Woakes 2-47, B Stokes 2-43) by 3 wkts.