Following the 79-run loss in the second ODI, New Zealand skipper Tom Latham said that his side failed to capitalize when England was under pressure and take the game deep.
A gutsy half-century by Liam Livingstone and deadly spells by pacers Reece Topley and David Willey outclassed Trent Boult's powerplay brilliance as England beat New Zealand by 79 runs in the second ODI at Southampton on Sunday night.
"Key partnerships took it deep in a shortened format, and with four out you can make it count. Full credit to Liam for a fantastic innings. The job up top with the new ball was fantastic, Boulty (Trent Boult) doing his thing was great. We are focusing on the job at hand not too far ahead and playing roles as best as we can. We look for ways to improve. Our new ball bowling was good. Unfortunately, we could not capitalize when they were under pressure. A couple of changes in the side today, hopefully, we can do that again in the next couple of games. We were not able to take it deep with the bat and did not have partnerships," said Latham in a post-match presentation.
Coming to the match, after being put to bat first, early powerplay strikes by a returning Trent Boult reduced England to 55/5, with skipper Jos Buttler (30 in 25 balls, with four boundaries) being the only decent contributor among the top five batters.
Then Livingstone had a 48-run stand with Moeen (33 in 32 balls with three fours and a six) that helped England reach the 100-run mark and a 112-run stand with Sam Curran (42 in 35 balls, with one four and two sixes) that helped England reach 226/7 in 50 overs.
Boult (3/37) was the pick of the bowlers for NZ. Tim Southee (2/65) got two scalps while Matt Henry and Mitchell Santner got one each.
In the chase of 227, NZ was reduced to 55/3, with Finn Allen going for a duck and openers Devon Conway (14) and Will Young (33) falling quickly after a 49-run stand. After a 56-run partnership between Daryl Mitchell (57 in 52 balls, with six fours and a six) and skipper Tom Latham (19), NZ lost their seven wickets for just 36 runs, ending at for 147 in 26.5 overs.
Reece Topley (3/27) and David Willey (3/34) were the pick of the bowlers for England. Moeen got two while Atkinson got one.
Livingstone took home the 'Player of the Match' award.
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