• Black Caps take series lead

    New Zealand won the third ODI against England by three wickets, taking a 2-1 lead in the five match seriesĀ on Sunday.

    England must have thought the 302 they posted would be competitive, but they failed to bat out their 50 overs, lasting only 45.2 overs.

    However, this was the first time any England team had scored 300-plus in three consecutive ODI’s, which shows the progress that has been made since the miserable World Cup campaign.

    Ben Wheeler had an impressive debut replacing the injured Trent Boult, claiming 3-63 in his 10 overs.

    Boult will miss the remainder of the Black Caps’ tour of England after suffering a back injury, it was announced on Sunday.

    The 25-year-old left-arm paceman was New Zealand’s man of the series in their 1-1 drawn Test campaign against England, taking 13 wickets at 24.84.

    He also featured in the opening two fixtures of the ongoing five-match one-day international series.

    Boult took an impressive four for 55 in England’s 210-run win at Edgbaston on Tuesday and two for 53 as World Cup finalists New Zealand levelled the series with a 13-run win under the Duckworth/Lewis method at The Oval on Friday.

    New Zealand reached 306-7 with six balls to spare, thank mainly to a second consecutive hundred by Ross Taylor (110 off 123) and a century by Kane Williamson (118 off 113).

    Eoin Morgan won the toss and batted first, but England struggled early on 34-2, before a partnership of 105 runs between Joe Root (54) and Morgan (71) put England firmly in control. Ben Stokes also contributed with a well played 68, but the hosts lost wickets frequently towards the end.

    The Black Caps’ chase got off to a similar poor start on 36-2, before a massive partnership of 206 between Williamson and Taylor took the game away from England as the visitors eventually reached their target fairly comfortably in the second last over.

    In other cricket news, Ravichandran Ashwin grabbed a five-wicket haul as India enforced the follow-on before the rain-ruined Test against Bangladesh ended in an inevitable draw in Fatullah on Sunday.

    After the entire morning session was washed out, India bowled out Bangladesh for 256 in their first innings to gain a lead of 206 runs over their own effort of 462-6 declared.

    Given 30 overs to bat a second time, the hosts were 23 without loss after 15 overs when both sides agreed to call off the match at the Khan Shaheb Osman Ali stadium.