Black Caps were soft, says Kane
Black Caps captain Kane Williamson lamented poor decision-making from the top order and soft dismissals as the ODI series against England ended with a whimper.
New Zealand barely fired a shot in the decider at Christchurch’s Hagley Oval yesterday, crashing to a comprehensive seven wicket loss and 3-2 series defeat.
Williamson was reluctant to blame the absence of star batsman Ross Taylor, who was unable to shake off a thigh injury to prove his fitness for the match. Taylor aggravated the injury during his stellar 181 not out in the fourth ODI win in Dunedin on Wednesday.
Once again, New Zealand saved their worst cricket for a series decider, following on from October’s 2-1 ODI series loss in India and a 3-2 home loss to South Africa last March.
Some questionable shot selection and lack of patience from the top order sunk New Zealand.
They slumped to 79-5 in the 21st over, which quickly became 93-6 when Colin de Grandhomme fell recklessly to long on, and were always playing catch-up from there.
It was only an 84-run seventh wicket stand between Mitchell Santner, who hit a career-best 67, and Henry Nicholls (55) that got New Zealand through to 223, well below what they needed.
‘‘That would be the disappointing thing is there were too many soft dismissals through that middle order. We failed to adapt on a surface that was a little bit soft perhaps to start and the ball stood up a little bit,’’ Williamson said.
‘‘There was definite decision-making errors on our part.’’
Opener Colin Munro started the rot, falling softly with the third ball of the innings, getting a leading edge through to wicketkeeper Jos Buttler.
It continued a forgettable series for Munro and Martin Guptill as an opening duo with their highest partnership in the series just 12 runs.
Williamson would have been filthy to chop one onto his leg stump, while trying to guide the ball down to third man off Mark Wood, falling for 14.
He was a pivotal figure without Taylor and when he went New Zealand were 26-2 in the 10th over and the English confidence sky-high.
Tom Latham also let himself down, picking out Ben Stokes at short midwicket, falling to the flight of legspinner Adil Rashid.
‘‘Once again, it’s in the moment and it is such a fine line and it’s a decision and I think we lacked a little bit in that area with the bat.
‘‘They never gave us an inch and we knew we needed to play good cricket and we didn’t.’’
Defending a small target, New Zealand produced a sluggish bowling display with too many freebies dished up to in-form England opener Jonny Bairstow, who blasted 138 in Dunedin, and Alex Hales, who was impressive in his first ODI match of the series.
Bairstow made it back-to-back blazing 104 from 60 balls.
England raced to 92-0 after 15 overs and there was no way back from there for the Black Caps.
‘‘With the ball, we were wanting to be a lot better as well. Once again, regardless of the result, we’re wanting to put out much better performances than that and that would be the disappointing thing,’’ Williamson said.
He described the ODI series performance as a mixed bag with New Zealand unable to deliver a complete outing.
‘‘I still felt we didn’t play our best cricket collectively. In saying that there were a lot of good parts we can build on and take forward.
‘‘Certainly, the fielding, bowling, and batting parts to our game all in one is something when you do play one of the best teams, is what you’re wanting to achieve. It’s not easy.’’
Bairstow paid tribute to England quicks Chris Woakes and Wood, who set the tempo with the ball, and made crucial early breakthroughs.
‘‘I think the lads up front really set the tone. If the lads don’t come out and set the tone with the new balls it can all be against us, especially when you’ve two guys at the top of their order [Munro and Guptill], who can be very destructive.’’ tons,