Southee, McCullum destroy England

Saturday, 21 February 2015 00:01 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Captain Brendon scores 18-ball half century after speedster Tim takes career best of 7 for 33 to bowl out England for 123

WELLINGTON (Reuters): Tim Southee produced a brilliant spell of swing bowling for career-best figures of 7-33 before Brendon McCullum plundered an 18-ball half-century as New Zealand destroyed England by eight wickets in their World Cup Pool A match on Friday. Southee’s performance saw England dismissed for 123, with Joe Root top-scoring with 46, before New Zealand captain McCullum’s 77 from 25 balls helped the co-hosts roar to victory in 12.2 overs at Wellington Regional Stadium. New Zealand’s celebrations were delayed 40 minutes to allow for a scheduled innings break at 1730 (0430 GMT), though needing only 12 runs with nine wickets in hand. McCullum took 18 runs off pace bowler Stuart Broad’s first over, the second of the innings, and then 20 off seamer Steven Finn, who had immediately replaced Broad. He then belted four successive sixes off Finn’s next over, which went for 29 runs. New Zealand were 96-0 after six overs with their captain seemingly intent on pushing an already dispirited England further into despair. McCullum was bowled by Chris Woakes with a full toss after hitting eight fours and seven sixes. Kane Williamson (nine) and Ross Taylor (five) completed the win. McCullum’s innings, the fastest half-century at a World Cup, threatened to overshadow the superb bowling effort by Southee, who produced the best figures by a New Zealand bowler in one-day internationals. Shane Bond’s 6-19 against India in 2005 was the previous best. Southee did not get much movement in sunny conditions at the top of the innings after Eoin Morgan had won the toss and decided to bat but still managed to bowl Moeen Ali (20) and Ian Bell (eight) with yorkers that did swing late. Southee was ably supported by Trent Boult, who put pressure on the top order with an eight-over opening spell in which he took one wicket for 30 runs. Left arm spinner Daniel Vettori then dried up the runs in the middle overs and captured the wicket of the out-of-form England captain. Root and Morgan, who had scored a total of two runs in his previous five knocks, tried to consolidate England’s innings, though their run rate was pedestrian with the skipper struggling with his timing and confidence. Vettori heaped more pressure on the beleaguered Morgan when he was brilliantly caught in the deep by Adam Milne for 17. Southee then produced a spell of five for 10 in four overs to set up the platform for victory.

No need for panic, says England captain Morgan

WELLINGTON (Reuters): The England captain Eoin Morgan insisted there was no reason to panic even after his team suffered a second humiliating loss at the World Cup on Friday. England could hardly have made a worse start to the sport’s most important tournament, losing by 111 runs to Australia last weekend then suffering an embarrassing eight wicket loss to New Zealand on Friday. But Morgan said things were not as bad as they seemed and he urged England’s growing band of critics to keep faith with the players. “Certainly you don’t want to get into a state of panic where we make three or four changes in one day,” he told reporters after Friday’s thrashing. “That’s certainly not what I’m about. I’ve always believed in making good decisions and backing the right players at the right time. “I believe at the moment that any of our players can play. The players that played today I believe were the best to win today, and given conditions, we’ll change plans accordingly.” “These first two games were going to be difficult games playing in these conditions. But we shouldn’t be beaten by this much,” Morgan said. “Today we were out skilled but the first game against Australia we were well below par. “(We’re) not doing the basics. Not producing when we practice. We envisioned the future of having lost your first two games, but not by this much.” “We can still make the quarter-finals, as soon as we start winning and getting into the next game,” Morgan said. “I think when we’re not doing our basics well, we’re being exposed by good teams, and we’ve seen that today. “I certainly agree that we have to turn things around quickly. We need to start winning, and we’ll work to get momentum to get to the quarters, to the semis and so on.”

New Zealand almost perfect in demolition of England: Southee

WELLINGTON (Reuters): New Zealand had produced ‘almost the perfect performance’ to destroy England in a World Cup match that lasted less than 50 overs on Friday. Southee took a New Zealand best 7-33 that bowled England out for 123 in 33.2 overs in their Pool A clash at Wellington Regional Stadium, before captain Brendon McCullum sealed the eight-wicket win with a blistering attack on England’s bowling. “It was a pretty amazing day when you think back on it. It’s almost the perfect performance,” Southee said of New Zealand achieving the 124 needed for victory in 12.2 overs. “One of those days almost (where) we can’t do anything wrong. “You take the personal accolades,” he added of his man of the match performance. “But I think it’s just credit to the way we’ve bowled as a group. “I guess today was one of those days where I got the rewards and I’m sure there’ll be another time we will bowl just as well and someone else will take the rewards.” Southee’s personal haul, which bettered the 6-19 current bowling coach Shane Bond had held for 10 years, was supported by the team’s efforts in the field as well as his fellow bowlers. Southee’s ability to produce outswing to the right-handed batsmen, however, was key in his demolition job on Friday. While the ball was not ‘hooping around’ in brilliant sunshine it was that late swing away from the batsmen that did for five of the seven wickets – all right handers. “There wasn’t a hell of a lot in the pitch and I think we saw that with the toss,” Southee said of the fact England’s Eoin Morgan had chosen to bat, while Brendon McCullum said he would have done the same had he won the toss. “It looked a good batting wicket but we managed to get it swinging and if anyone can get it swinging then it’s a different ball game. “It hasn’t swung like that in a one-day game for a while and for the old ball still to swing, I think it just proved the difference.”\