The AMI Stadium is undergoing reconstruction for the rugby union World Cup in 2011 and the opposite sides of the ground came to represent the difference between the teams. England looked tidy and complete, New Zealand were demolished. The gap between them has been emphatic and England will begin the one-day programme brimful of confidence.
Peter Moores, the head coach, asked at the start of the tour that the reassembled party pick up from the end of the one-day victory in Sri Lanka in October. Players have responded better than he dared expect and they could leave for Wellington today confident of winning a third 50-over series in a row for the first time since 2003. The opening match takes place under floodlights at the Westpac Stadium tomorrow, with Alastair Cook due to open in place of Luke Wright, alongside Phil Mustard. Dimitri Mascarenhas should have done enough to earn the final spot ahead of Ravi Bopara at No 7.
England outplayed New Zealand in all three departments over the two Twenty20 matches; four, if wicketkeeping is taken as a separate skill. Mustard has been one of the successes and Ryan Sidebottom has continued his rise under Moores, while all of the batsmen bar Ian Bell contributed in either Auckland or Christchurch.
“There are so many positives that we can take,” Paul Collingwood, the captain, said. “New Zealand are still a dangerous side, which speaks volumes for the effort we have put in so far. We have not played that well in 20-over cricket in the past, but these were two really good performances we can carry into the next few weeks.”
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A schedule of five matches in 15 days is as sedate as it gets in modern cricket. Slowly is the way to go in this country of stunning landscapes, but there ought to be some sense of urgency in the New Zealand medical room to speed the return of Daniel Vettori and Jacob Oram before tomorrow. The back-up is too thinly spread.
Collingwood identified only a single fault yesterday, in the loss of four wickets for 11 runs in 16 balls after Mustard and Wright had put on 65 in 35 balls. New Zealand were close to breaking through, only for Collingwood and Owais Shah to respond with the highest England partnership in the format, posting 102 from 63 balls.
Military hierarchy may have it the other way round, but in English cricket the captain outranks the Colonel. Mustard, after a blistering start, deserved a court martial for the way he left two new batsmen together with a drive to long-on. Collingwood, on the other hand, measured the response with good sense and good timing.
The loss of Oram, Shane Bond and Vettori as well as James Franklin and Mark Gillespie has given the New Zealand bowling a makeshift look. The pick of the attack here was Tim Southee, a young seam bowler who kept a full length but will miss the 50-over matches because he is off to Malaysia for the under-19 World Cup.
Paul Hitchcock suffered most. Returning to the national team after an absence of more than four years, his first ball was driven for six by Mustard and his first over went for 22. He returned to dismiss Shah and Collingwood, attempting big hits in succession, only for Mascarenhas to screw the hat-trick ball for six.
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Collingwood needed only 24 balls for his half-century, while Shah, having taken longer to settle, began to stroke the ball to the short boundaries with a style often missing in the frenzy. With Sidebottom and James Anderson then conceding only 19 runs from the first four overs, New Zealand soon needed more than ten an over.
The seam bowlers undid the Blackcaps with changes of pace. Mascarenhas was hard to hit and batsmen often misread Stuart Broad’s slower ball. Ross Taylor may have hit the biggest six of the night, off Broad, but too much of the batting suggested a team resigned.