Bowled Over – England Progress – By Luqman Liaqat

England won by 10 runs to book their place in the ICC Champions Trophy semi-finals in a rain- shortened match at Cardiff against New Zealand.

The three lions captain Alistair Cook was the top scorer with 64 off 47 balls as England fell apart at the end of their innings from 141-3 to 169-all out in a match reduced to 24-overs per side due to heavy downpour earlier in the day.

Despite being without Graeme Swann the English bowling attack did well at the SWALEC stadium to restrict their opponents to 159-8 as Kane Williamson scored a strong 67.

After rain through the morning, play eventually started at 3.45pm and Ian Bell fell in the second over slapping the ball straight to short extra over off Mitchell McClenaghan the tournaments leading wicket-taker.

In the next over Kyle Mills sent Jonathon Trott back to the pavilion for 8 leaving England 25-2. When Joe Root joined Cook in a stand 75 the run-rate soon picked up giving England a chance to post a strong total.

Cook in total was dropped three times all of the chances were put down by Nathan McCullum. For the very first time in an ODI innings the England skipper cleared the rope twice and he doesn’t play Twenty20 but on this occasion he showed his quick scoring ability by scoring a handy 64.

Root was looking very busy at the crease as usual by using his wrists to find the gaps in the field and he provided one maximum pulling Daniel Vettori straight over deep midwicket. When England reached 100 inside the 14th over, McClenaghan struck again as Luke Ronchi took a catch off a Root pull shot gone all wrong.

Eoin Morgan made a run a-ball 15 hitting one over the top, and Cook fell when Nathan McCullum took a return catch off his own bowling. In the 20th over England lost their fifth wicket and were bowled out before the allocation of the 24 overs reaching 169 courtesy of Jos Buttler’s two late boundaries.
The New Zealand seamers bowled some tight overs at the death of the England innings with Mills (4-30) and McClenaghan (3-36) taking the pick of the figures.

England opening bowling pair soon made the chase look even more daunting for the Kiwis’, James Anderson in his early three-over spell bowled with testing pace and movement Ronchi could only skew the ball down to third man and Martin Guptill ran the ball back onto his own stumps leaving the score 14-2.

Some superb bowling and fielding from England helped them claim three more wickets, Taylor (3) pinned lbw by Tim Bresnan, Ravi Bopara (2-26) removed Brendon McCullum (8) and James Franklin for 6 as the batting line-up was left reeling on 62-5 after 14 overs.
Williamson tried his best to keep the chase alive, hitting eight boundaries and one six off Stuart Broad and debutant Corey Anderson (30 from 24 balls) impressed with his huge hitting potential but the sixth wicket stand of 73 was in a losing cause.

Anderson (3-32) picked up the final wicket of the innings dismissing Nathan McCullum as New Zealand fell short by 10 runs finishing on 159-8.

England are through to the semi-finals where they will face India or South Africa and New Zealand on the other hand are relying on Australia to beat Sri Lanka in the final Group B game on Monday.

Bowled Over – India March On- By Luqman Liaqat

India continued their perfect record in the 2013 ICC Champions Trophy by beating arch-rivals Pakistan in a rain hit match at Edgbaston.

After several delays throughout the day it meant India eventually needed to chase 102 in 22 overs, they reached the target by losing two wickets with 17 balls to spare.

In form batsman Shikhar Dhawan scored 48 runs off 41 balls and Virat Kohli contributed with a handy unbeaten 22 to steer his side over the winning line.

Pakistan were sent out to bat under very cloudy skies, opener Nasir Jamshed had a successful lbw overturned via a review however his reprieve did not last long as he poked a catch straight to Suresh Raina at second slip off Bhuvneshwar Kumar leaving the score 4-1.

Kamran Akmal was promoted to open alongside Mohammed Hafeez which saw Pakistan reach 50-1 inside the 12^th over before rain held-up play for 12 minutes.

Straight after the rain break, Hafeez (27) edged behind to the Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni giving Kumar (2-19) his second wicket of the match. Ravichandaran Ashwin soon dismissed Akmal as he was caught at short-leg via Dhoni’s thigh after playing a rash drive leaving the Pakistanis now 56-3.

When the score reached 70-3 after 19 overs, a further interruption of over an hour reduced the match to a 40-over contest. Asad Shafiq (41) and Misbah-Ul-Haq (22) put on a 40 run partnership before Misbah was bowled out by Ravindra Jadeja.

Ishant Sharma despite not being on his best, with some fortune he had Shafiq to a leg-side edge and in the next over Jadeja (2-39) trapped Shoaib Malik with a quick arm ball and Pakistan from 110-3 were now in a huge mess at 139-6.

It was left to Umar Amin with 27 off 26 deliveries to see them through to the inning’s final over, a couple of late run outs meant Pakistan were bowled out before their full allocation for 165 in 39.4 overs.

Under the Duckworth/Lewis revision India faced a target of 168 from 40 overs, Dhawan and Rohit Sharma threatened to become the first Indian opening combination to score three successive century stands.

India reached 45-0 inside 8.1 overs when more downpour saw India’s target adjusted to 157 off 36 overs. Saeed Ajmal had Sharma’s wicket when Misbah held a catch at midwicket for 18 before the weather once again intervened this time for an hour.

Miraculously, the sun eventually appeared and India’s target was adjusted for one last time to 102 in 22 overs. India on 67-1 now needed 35 runs from 54 balls, Dhawan scorer of two centuries in India’s wins earlier in the tournament, holed out off Wahab Riaz on 48 from 42 balls.

Kohli was then joined by Dinesh Karthik (11*) to finish off the job in 19.1 overs and take India through to the semi-finals with three wins out of three.

India had already booked their place in the semi-finals as Group B winners following victories over South Africa and West Indies, while Pakistan knew they were going home regardless of the result as they had already lost twice.

 

 

Pit Stop – Racers Want To Race – By Lewis Brearley

How you reacted to the late-race radio exchange between Lewis Hamilton and his Mercedes engineer is a clear indicator of what you want and love about Formula One racing.

When Lewis’s engineer, responding to the looming threat of a rapidly closing Fernando Alonso, radioed with the rather oblique: “Your rear traction metrics are under 2000,” Lewis replied simply: “just let me drive man.”

The get-out-there-and-drive-the-wheels-off attitude doesn’t tend to compliment the technical, cerebral very well. Indeed, this was the issue at the very core of the Senna versus Prost battle years ago and we all know how destructive that became.

Yet in modern Formula One the most obvious example of this culture clash is with Lewis Hamilton, who puts Senna as his hero. The engineer simply meant that there was plenty of life left in his driver’s tyres and was giving him a coded message to push to fend off Alonso. Was there really such a need to make such a command so complex?

In a sport so technical, where tenths of a second can separate glorious victory from despairing loss, any advantage and even ways of working are jealously guarded.

While a huge frustration to the Hamilton-ites, it surely makes sound sense for the more technical minded fans. Why spend millions on aerodynamic parts, engine software developments and brake cooling devices to blow it with a rash communication?

The thing which makes F1 so different and special among sports is the fact that it can be enjoyed in such disparate ways, and every fan across the spectrum can love it just as much.

After all, whether you were shouting in unison with Lewis and his plea to just “get on with the driving”, or instead you were in harmony with his engineer in thinking that there was nothing more vital to the race than Lewis’s rear tyre degradation matrix, your love of Formula One isn’t any less.

However, someone who just may be falling out of love with F1 is Jenson Button. Just as it looked that his team was finding its way out of the mire it found itself in at the start of 2013, his torrid season reached a new nadir. For the first time since the dark days of 2009 the team finished with both its cars outside the points.

This was supposed to be Button’s year in which he finally had a big team to lead, to mould around himself and to challenge for a second championship.

But with the winding down of the Mercedes technical partnership next year and the loss of the technical director Paddy Lowe, there doesn’t seem to be any light visible at the end of the tunnel yet.

Is This The End

England Under 21 boss Stuart Pearce faces an anxious wait to see if he will remain as the head coach of the side.

After an abysmal effort in the Under 21 Championships, where the young three lions lost all of their group games, scoring just one goal, the former England player has come under scrutiny for his managerial credibility.

However, let’s not forget that the squad he had to choose from had the minimal number of under 21 players playing in the top flight out of all European divisions, with the best of that crop already in the senior England side.

Some fans and pundits have called for this to be the way it should be, with the senior side getting the overall benefit, but in reality it shows the complete lack of depth in our International game.

Other nations such as Spain and Germany have more younger players in their senior squads, yet still produce players of star quality in the Under 21 and the Under 19 categories.

A recent article by the Mail showed less than 35% of players in the Premiership were English, which is down 10% on both Germany and Italy, while Spain have an impressive 59% of players.

With this stat, it is little wonder that their are no longer the sheer volumes of players coming through, or the star quality to make England a force on both fronts.

Pearce could potentially done better in the championships but with a lack of talent at his disposal, cannot be blamed fully.

Unless an overhaul in the structure of the game is produced, expect to see England fail at Championships for many years more.

Bowled Over- England Vs Australia Review ICC Champions Trophy 2013 – By Luqman Liaqat

James Anderson overtook Darren Gough to be his country’s leading wicket taker in one-day cricket as England beat Australia by 48-runs in their opening Champions Trophy match.

After opting to bat first England put 270 on the board with Ian Bell reaching his highest score of 91 at Edgbaston and in reply the Aussies could only score 221-9.

Bell played an anchoring throughout his innings and put on 57 with his opening partner Alistair Cook before Shane Watson removed the England skipper for 30 caught behind by Mathew Wade.

Jonathon Trott gave good support to Bell by sharing a stand of 111 in 22 overs taking England to a strong position at 168-1 (33.4 overs). In the next few overs the hosts lost Trott (43) and Joe Root followed him back to pavilion for 12 off Clint McKay (2-38).

Bell contributed well with some neat strokes and occasionally played cracking drives but after Root’s dismissal he soon fell for 91 off 115 balls when James Faulkner bowled him out with a straight delivery.

From 168-1 England were now in some bother after a poor display in the batting powerplay, Eoin Morgan lost his leg-stump and Jos Buttler fell to Faulkner leaving England on 213-6.

An unbeaten partnership of 56 from Ravi Bopara and Tim Bresnan pushed the final score to 269 as Bopara hit three fours and one maximum in his 36-ball 46 not out.

Australia’s bowling options lacked a specialist spinner on a gripping surface, and among the pacers Mitchell Starc (1-75) was a huge disappointment.

In reply, the openers started with a slow run rate which put plenty of pressure on the middle order batsmen and they never looked like recovering. David Warner was first to fall for nine when he carved at an angled delivery from Stuart Broad presenting a catch to Buttler.

By the 15^th over the run rate had barely touched three and more bad news struck the Aussies, Watson (24) was dismissed by Bresnan leaving score on 47-2.

Skipper George Bailey and Phil Hughes could only provide a mini recovery with a 37 run partnership before Root had his first one-day wicket when he had Hughes leg before.

The only batsmen to show any glimpses of quality was Bailey as he reached his 6^th ODI fifty, the next three wickets all went down in quick succession. First, Adam Voges lost his middle and off-stump, Anderson (3-30) had Mitchell Marsh caught behind to top the England wicket taking list and after Wade’s wicket Australia were left stumbling on 136-6.

Bailey lost his patience on 55 in an attempt to play a big shot off James Tredwell he could only manage to loop the ball straight to Root in the deep leaving the Aussies seven down.

Faulkner’s 38-ball half-century at least ensured Australia played out the 50 overs which limited the damage on their net run-rate and they left Edgbaston with some pride intact as the innings concluded on 221-9.

Alongside Anderson’s fine spell, Bresnan (2-45) and Broad (1-35) chipped in to give England a comfortable victory in Group A. 

Bowled Over – Eng v NZ ODI 3 – By Luqman Liaqat

Jos Buttler served the Trent Bridge crowd to a treat hitting 47 not out from 16 balls as England claimed a 34-run consolidation victory to take some pride from a series loss in the third and final one-day international versus New Zealand.

Buttler sparked in the final three overs of the first innings taking England to a strong total of 287-6 at Trent Bridge and in reply New Zealand were bowled out for 253.

A good day in the field for skipper Alistair Cook began well with the news that Stuart Broad and Steve Finn were back after injury, while Ravi Bopara came in and James Tredwell replaced Graeme Swann.

The tourists put England into bat first and Cook was given out lbw for duck off Mitchell McClenaghan’s (3-54) in the opening over.

Ian Bell then laid the platform with a steady innings of 82 from 96 balls and received useful support from Jonathan Trott (37) and Joe Root (33) which gave Eoin Morgan and Buttler enough overs to up the run rate in the latter overs.

After the dismissal of the middle order England were 153-4 (35 overs) and Ravi Bopara made a slow 28, his wicket brought out Buttler.

In the 46th over with England on 210-5, the sixth-wicket partnership was worth 62 runs from 22 deliveries. Morgan played really well for his 49 run knock, after taking 16 balls to score eight runs, he smashed three sixes (two over long-on and one over long-off).

Buttler played two superbly timed scoop shots for a six and one for a boundary as he hit six fours and three sixes in a quick-fire innings giving England 287.

The Black Cap’s started the chase with good pace reaching the ninth over at 70-1 after Broad removed Luke Ronchi for 22 caught by mid-on fielder Trott.

Martin Guptill, fresh from his scores of 103 not and 189 not out in the previous matches in the series, scoring 38 off 36 balls before Tredwell bowled him through the gates.

Root struck in his first over defeating Kane Williamson’s bat with an off break, Colin Munro and Brendon McCullum fell cheaply leaving New Zealand on the brink of defeat on 111-5 in the 20th over.

Ross Taylor found Nathan McCullum’s help and the seventh-wicket pair added 53 before Broad held a good catch over his shoulder off Tim Bresnan (2-27) to get rid of McCullum (28).

Taylor brought up his half-century off 72 balls and with the run-rate climbing he increased the scoring dispatching consecutive sixes off Tredwell (3-51) in the 43rd over and he was dismissed when Finn showed some clever footwork throwing the ball back to Bresnan to complete the catch.
Kyle Mills hit a few mighty blows at the end but were finally bowled out for 253 in the 47th over giving England a 34-run win.

New Zealand’s victories at Lord’s and Ageas Bowl means a series triumph of 2-1 ahead of the start of the ICC Champions Trophy.

England start their campaign against Australia at Edgbaston on Saturday, while New Zealand will play Sri Lanka in Cardiff the next day with both teams making up Group A in the eight-team tournament.

Bowled Over – Eng v NZ ODI 2 – By Luqman Liaqat

A record-breaking batting display from Martin Guptill earned New Zealand a crushing victory over England by 86 runs at the Ageas Bowl as the tourists wrapped up the ODI series with a game to spare.

The Black Cap’s opening batsmen followed up his match-winning ton on Friday by hitting 189 not out off 155 balls, the highest score by a New Zealander in an ODI and equalling Viv Richard’s 189 making it also the highest individual effort versus England.

His knock anchored a daunting score of 359-3 and England never looked like chasing it down, eventually bowled out for 273.

James Anderson made an early breakthrough, bowling out Luke Ronchi with a swinging beauty, Guptill was then dropped by Jonathon Trott on 13.

Kane Williamson (55) gave plenty of support to Guptill as the pair put on 120 for the second wicket before he under-edged Graeme Swann onto his own stumps and then Ross Taylor played a superb innings as the scoring rate soon picked up pace.

The third wicket stand was worth 109 runs inside 17 overs, from the 22nd over New Zealand really launched at the English bowlers Guptill smashing a monstrous hit off Chris Woakes over deep midwicket.

Taylor hit three fours and two huge sixes in his innings of 60 from 54 balls, after smashing Tim Bresnan for a maximum he was removed by James Anderson (2-65) when attempting his second successive six when Woakes held a catch in the deep.

Skipper Brendon McCullum joined Guptill in the middle with the score on 241-3 (41.4 overs), after passing 100 Guptill hit Swann for a straight six as a result beating his previous best of 122. In the last eight overs, the fourth wicket stand was worth 115 runs.

Jade Dernbach’s 10 over spell went for 87 making it the fourth most expensive figures by an England bowler in an ODI, McCullum (40 runs from 19 balls) hit two meaty blows off Anderson and Bresnan in his impressive knock.

In his final 44 balls Guptill amassed 89 runs and six of his last seven deliveries went for four, an unforgettable knock from Guptill included 19 fours and two sixes as a result giving New Zealand an immense total of 359.

England’s reply started well, as Alaistair Cook picked up five crisp boundaries in an opening stand worth 50 runs in 7.2 overs with Ian Bell before Kyle Mills ripped out his middle stump.

Bell then slogged Doug Bracewell straight to James Franklin, while Joe Root got in and then got out when attempting a loft off Nathan McCullum leaving England 122-3 in the 22nd over.

It was only Trott who really did anything to steady the ship scoring an unbeaten 100 most notably straight-driving Franklin for his third ODI six, after Eoin Morgan and Jos Butler’s dismissals Woakes put on 34 with him on the sixth wicket taking England to 212.

The final five wickets fell for 61 runs as England were bowled out for 273 inside 44 overs, with Trott proving he is still suited for the one-day game scoring 109 from just 104 balls but the day belonged entirely to Guptill and New Zealand.

This emphatic victory sealed the series for New Zealand at 2-0 with only the final game to come on Wednesday at Trent Bridge.

Pit Stop – Rosberg – By Lewis Brearley

The Formula One season continues this weekend at the picturesque Gilles Villeneuve circuit in Montreal, Canada.

With the man of the moment, after his extremely classy Monaco grand prix victory, being Nico Rosberg, it’s an appropriate time to assess his world championship credentials.

Opinion of Rosberg was split into two disparate camps before the 2013 season. One claimed he was a very good driver, reliable and quick, but one who was never going to be defined as a “great”. The other that he still had not been given the machinery to prove himself fully and that the lack of a world class, highly performing team mate was masking his true talent.

Rosberg holds the impressive record of being the only man to set a fastest lap on his debut, when he finished seventh in the 2006 Bahrain grand prix. That season ended with the German being beaten in the championship by the vastly more experienced Mark Webber but their respective performances were very equal.

For the next three years Rosberg honed his racing skills in an often unimpressive Williams while outpacing his team mates, Alex Wurz and Kazuki Nakajima. These two hardly shone in their time in Formula One but have since gone on to show well in the sportscar scene, both for the Toyota Prototype team.

The highly intelligent Rosberg, a man who turned down a place at Imperial College to study aeronautics and who fluently speaks five languages, had probably realised by the end of 2009 that he wasn’t going to get much further up the grid in his current seat and for 2010 joined for the new, rich and shiny works Mercedes squad.

A move that would normally elevate a driver’s profile actually had no such effect, as the announcement that his team mate would be Michael Schumacher pushed Rosberg firmly out of the limelight.

Even when Rosberg went on to outshine Schumacher convincingly for the next three seasons, his profile remained minimal. The pundits and the observing world didn’t see a hugely talented son of a world champion, but a merely good driver who was beating an old, pseudo-Schumi.

While it’s firmly established that the Schumacher who Rosberg faced was a shadow of his former glory, he was in a no win situation. Whenever he beat Schumacher it was because Schumi was old; whenever he finished behind him he was underperforming.

All this is why 2013 is so important for Rosberg. Finally he has a team mate who is rated as being in the top three of the whole grid to compare himself against and while many predicted that Lewis Hamilton would put Rosberg into a number two role with his speed, this hasn’t been the case so far.

In fact Hamilton finds himself in a remarkably similar situation to the one which made him so unhappy at McLaren. He has a quick, intelligent team mate who works harmoniously with his engineers and who is liked by his management, while he continues to struggle to harness his blazing, raw speed.

In a season which is less about pure speed and more about brainpower, and with a winning car now underneath him, maybe Nico Rosberg will win the championship which half the paddock never thought he would.

Bowled Over – Eng v NZ ODI 1 – By Luqman Liaqat

Martin Guptill fired an unbeaten hundred as New Zealand claimed victory by five-wickets in the first one-day international against England at Lord’s.

The opening batsmen scored 103 not out, as Ross Taylor also contributed with a brilliant 54 in a match-winning partnership of 119 for the third wicket after the Kiwis were 1-2 in the first over.

Earlier in the day, England put 227-9 on the board from their 50 overs, Jonathan Trott was the only notable run scorer with 37 and Tim Southee finished with figures of 3-37.​

In their new red kit the England team was rather off-colour as the entire top-order batsman came and went very cheaply.

After being put into bat first under cloud cover on a good pitch, both openers’ dismissals came in successive overs edging behind to debutant wicket-keeper Luke Ronchi off Southee.

Joe Root joined Trott in the middle as early as the 13th over, the pair put on 67 before Niall McCullum had Root (30) bowled off an attempted reverse sweep and Trott fell soon after.

Eoin Morgan’s wicket left the hosts in trouble on 126-5, before a late partnership from Chris Woakes and Tim Bresnan helped England get to a fighting score. Woakes struck two boundaries on his way to 36 and then hit out to Guptill to cover sweeper off Kyle Mills.

Southee claimed his third wicket cleaning bowling Bresnan for 25 with the score 216-8, two fours in the final over from Graeme Swann and James Anderson gave the hosts some respectability.

A good day in the field for Brendon McCullum was justified by the healthy bowling figures of his brother Niall McCullum and Southee only James Franklin proved to be expensive (0-29 from 4 overs).

In reply, the Black Caps were stuttering on 1-2 after only the opening over Anderson’s (3-31) two sharp in swingers removed Ronchi and Kane Williamson for nought.

It was Taylor and Guptill who came to the rescue for the away side, Taylor quickly reached double figures latching onto Jade Dernbach’s loose width deliveries.

The pair hammered Woakes to all areas of the park, as the young pacer conceded 45 runs in his six overs, although may have been different had Bresnan taken a catch from Guptill’s top edge instead he could only palm it over the rope for a six.

New Zealand’s third wicket of the innings fell on 121 after a 119 run stand, Anderson had Taylor caught behind by Jos Butler for 54.

Grant Elliot came out and hit 27 before Swann bowled him out and skipper Brendon McCullum came and went skying Dernach to Morgan for just five leaving New Zealand 185-5 giving England some hope of getting back into the game.

But Franklin fired an unbeaten 16 to help Guptill who struck four meaty blows off Woakes, Dernbach (0-55), Root and the best came off Swann as he drove him straight over the head of long-on.

Fittingly, Guptill hit the winning runs hammering Bresnan to the leg-side boundary to ensure that he would not be left stranded on 99 not out.

The win was a fantastic response from New Zealand after losing the Test series 2-0 and the teams will now go head-to-head in the Second ODI at Southampton on Sunday.

Bowled Over – England claim second test victory – By Luqman Liaqat

Graeme Swann took his haul to 10 wickets for the match on an intense day five to claim victory for England against New Zealand in the second Test at Headingley Carnegie and as a result obtaining a series whitewash.

Another highlight for this match has the outstanding maiden hundred for young Yorkshireman Joe Root.

Heavy downpour completely wiped out the opening day of the test match at soggy Headingley.

After no chance of even the toss taking place, umpires Marias Erasmus and Steve Davis announced play had been abandoned for the day at around 4pm.
Despite the disappointing news about the match not commencing, the fans received some rather good news coming through as the club offered refunds to all 10,000 ticket holders as well as an option of taking a ticket for next year’s Test versus Sri Lanka.

The team news included a few changes from the Black Cap’s camp, skipper Brendon McCullum was declared wicket keeper after BJ Watling’s injury, and Martin Guptill and Doug Bracewell were the other two to come in.

At the toss on day two, Alaistair Cook chose to bat first and it proved to be a great decision after an early wobble the two young Yorkshiremen Root and Johnny Bairstow fought back with a superb partnership for the fifth wicket.
Nick Compton’s attempt to keep his place in the test side started terribly as he edged to Dean Brownlie at first slip off Tim Southee. Before lunch, Jonathon Trott (28) and Cook (34) both departed from successive deliveries leaving the hosts 65-3.

Then Ian Bell helped Root rebuild the innings with the pair putting on 79 for the fourth wicket. Bell’s dismissal came off part-time off-spinner Kane Williamson which almost let the tourists back into the game.

The dynamic youngster thrilled the crowd to bring England back into a promising position, despite the fall of late wickets.

Root looked calm and composed to get a well-deserved century, however Baistow nearly sent him back to the pavilion when he drove the ball into the stumps but thankfully Root’s bat was grounded.

His milestone arrived with the 9th four of an exceptional innings as a result making him the first Yorkshire player to hit their first test ton at Leeds. The pair’s fifth wicket partnership was worth 124 with Bairstow also chipping in with a handy 64.

Root was on his way when New Zealand took the new ball edging behind to McCullum and Stuart Broad followed him soon after. Yet Matt Prior (37 not out) and Swann (21 out), finished the day with a flourish, putting on 51 in a hurry to put England on top with the score on 337-7 at the close.
Early on day three, the Kiwis wrapped up the English first innings for 354 with Trent Boult taking the last two wickets to claim figures of 5-57.

In reply, the New Zealand openers Peter Fulton (28) and Hamish Rutherford (27) faced very few problems until Steve Finn came on before lunch to remove both and tempted Ross Taylor into dragging the ball back onto his stumps reducing the score to 72-3.

With substantial turn in the afternoon, Swann (4-42) ripped through the middle order in the process bowling out Brownlie and Guptill, while Williamson went leg before and Bracewell was the spinner’s fourth victim.

At 122-9, it looked like the follow-on would be upon the tourists before Neil Wagner and Boult put on a quick-fire 52 off just 27 balls taking them to 174-all out.

In the three lions second innings runs came at ease for Cook but Compton struggled again labouring to only seven runs off 45 balls before falling to Williamson.

An unbeaten 88 from Cook helped the hosts reach 116-1 at the close with a massive lead of 296 runs.

Captain Cook resumed in the morning session as he had left off the evening before, reaching the three figures in quick succession, bringing up his 25th century with an elegant cover drive off Southee.

Trott gave strong support to the left-hander as the pair added 134 for the second wicket before Cook departed for 130 chipping the ball straight to mid-off.

Williamson then removed Bell for six as England reached lunch at 249-3, a lead of 429 wasn’t deemed enough by the hosts, as they continued to bat.

Trott fell soon after lunch for 76, but Root (28) and Baistow (26) provided little cameos and the declaration finally came with the score on 287-5.

Chasing a virtually impossible target of 468, Fulton fell to Broad in the 8th over and Williamson soon followed being judged lbw for the second time in the match.

Rutherford put in a handy effort before being dismissed for 42 and then Finn put an end to a fourth wicket partnership of 79 by Taylor and Brownlie with short ball which was nicely held by Bell at gully.

Taylor reached a superb 70 before Swann clean bowled him and before the close Guptill was also on his way to leave New Zealand on the brink of defeat at 158-6.

With only the gloomy weather in favour of the tourists, play started at 11.45 am and it didn’t take Broad (2-26) long as he had McCullum straight away with a stunning return catch.

After a couple of heavy blows from Southee, Swann eventually captured his fifth victim of the innings as Trott took an easy catch at slip.

Rain halted play again just before lunch and play resumed around 3pm, after Bracewell’s wicket Swann had a sixth batsman ending with figures of 6-90.
The final wicket stand was all about dot-balls as Wagner and Boult kept out eight overs, Cook eventually lost patience and brought on Anderson who took only three balls to seal victory by 247 runs as Boult nicked behind to Prior.

England completed a 2-0 series whitewash in fine style with two dominant displays over the Black Caps.​​
The two sides will now play three ODI’s from Friday in preparation for the ICC Champions Trophy 2013 which begins on 6 June.