Guptill powers Black Caps to series win over England

Tuesday, 4 June 2013 00:43 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Reuters: Martin Guptill blasted a majestic unbeaten 189, the equal fifth highest score in one-day international cricket, to propel New Zealand to a 86-run win over England at the Rose Bowl on Sunday.

Guptill (26) carried his bat throughout New Zealand’s innings for the second successive match as the visitors scored 359-3 in 50 overs to take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series.

Jonathan Trott struck an unbeaten 107 in England’s reply but they were always battling in the face of the imposing target and lost wickets at regular intervals before being bowled out for 273.

After New Zealand skipper Brendon McCullum won the toss and elected to bat under blue skies, Guptill smashed 19 fours and two towering sixes in a 155-ball stay.

He combined for partnerships in excess of 100 runs each with Kane Williamson (55), Ross Taylor (60) and McCullum (40 not out) on the way to a another century after guiding his team home at Lord’s on Friday.

England’s bowling attack, once again minus the injured Stuart Broad and Steven Finn, lacked depth on a flat pitch. Only James Anderson threatened consistently as Jade Dernbach conceded 87 from his 10 overs and Chris Woakes struggled through just seven overs.

New Zealand kept England Captain Alastair Cook under pressure throughout their innings with some clever running between the wickets while Guptill, in particular, was brutal on anything loose to propel his side to the fifth highest score in the game’s history.

A massive 132 of New Zealand’s runs came in the last 10 overs. England got off to an encouraging start in the chase with Cook (34) and Ian Bell (25) producing a flurry of early boundaries to give the home crowd plenty of reasons for optimism.

But when the two openers were dismissed and Joe Root (28) also got a start but holed out at long-on to the spin of Nathan McCullum, Trott was left to do the bulk of the scoring. Not a naturally aggressive shot-maker, Trott keep up a strike rate of close to a 100 for most of his innings but he eventually ran out of batting partners.

The pace of Mitchell McClenaghan completed the job as New Zealand celebrated a second significant one-day series win away from home after their success in South Africa at the start of the year.