New Zealand v England 2018

England start the ODI series with Ben Stokes back, but suffer a defeat although it was in a thrilling contest. An ODI which ebbed and flowed throughout was eventually won by New Zealand who squeezed home by 3 wickets with 4 balls to spare.

England 284/8 and New Zealand 287/7 from 49.2 overs.

I don't know if the second ODI can match the first one, as that was as good a contest as you could hope to see, but England are unchanged and having won the toss have asked New Zealand to bat first.

New Zealand 223 all out in 49.4 overs. It could have been less as they were 108/6 after 30 overs, so New Zealand must be delighted with this score from the position they were in. It's a big contrast to the last match in which New Zealand passed 200 with only 3 wickets down.

England make 225/4, winning by 6 wickets with 12.1 overs to spare. A very decisive win and the New Zealnd score was made to look woefully under par, so much so that even reaching 300 might not have been enough. More good news for England is that Stokes, who had looked a bit rusty in the first match, got an unbeaten 63 this time and took 2 wickets as well.

It's the 3rd ODI at Wellington, where England have a very poor ODI record. Mark Wood has been recalled in place of David Willey, which is a very debatable decision I think. New Zealand won the toss and have elected to field first.

^^ Willey doesn't bowl after his new ball spell, he's only bowled 11 overs in 2 games in this series, and he bats (perhaps a bit too) low down so bringing Wood in for extra pace and his yorkers at the death makes perfect sense to me.

Looks a very sluggish pitch and a bit up and down so 270+ should be very competitive I think

Yes, Willey doesn't bowl again after his new ball spell, that is a good point. Anyway England are 234 all out off the last ball. Not a great score but the wicket isn't great and displayed uneven bounce throughout the innings.

New Zealand could only manage to reach 230 off their 50 overs, due to some excellent death bowling by Chris Woakes.
So England won be 4 runs.

The 4th ODI from Dunedin is about to begin.

England batting 1st

If you don't have sky sports they are showing it on sky sports mix for free.