Taylor, Santner heroics help New Zealand win over England

February 26, 2018 00:00:00

England's Ben Stokes celebrates after taking wicket of New Zealand's Tom Latham during the first ODI cricket match against New Zealand at Seddon Park in Hamilton on Sunday. — AFP

HAMILTON, New Zealand, Feb 25 (AFP): A century by Ross Taylor and lusty late hitting by Mitch Santner delivered a last-over victory to New Zealand against England in their first one-day international in Hamilton on Sunday.

In a match filled with twists and turns, the outcome hung in the balance until Santer smacked a six in the final over to get New Zealand home with four balls to spare.

Rival captains Kane Williamson and Eoin Morgan both said the initiative "ebbed and flowed" throughout the match.

"There wasn't much between the sides and I think that's reflected in the result," added England skipper Morgan.

Taylor with 113 and Latham (79) paved the way for the New Zealand win and when England produced a middle-order collapse Santner hit a match-winning 45 off 27 deliveries.

Ben Stokes celebrated his return to international cricket with the crucial wicket of Latham to snap a 178-run stand with Taylor and have New Zealand at 205 for four in the 40th over.

They slipped further to 244 for seven before Santner lashed out to chase down England's 284 for eight.

"When we broke the partnership we knew we were back in the game but taking it towards the end we just didn't have enough in the tank," said Morgan.

Williamson, who won the toss and elected to bowl, expecting the dew to have an effect late in the day-night match, singled out key moments which went New Zealand's way, particularly with bowling late in the England innings.

"We had to play a lot of cricket before the dew came in but I think it was a factor tonight," he said.

New Zealand were in trouble at the start of their run chase as they fell to three for 27 in the 10th over.

Taylor, with his 18th century, and Latham clawed the home side back into the game with their 178-run stand before Stokes stepped up to remove Latham for 79.

Latham's dismissal sparked a middle-order collapse with three wickets falling for 10 runs.

As Taylor started to run out of partners, he tried to up the pace to get New Zealand home but with 25 balls remaining and New Zealand needing a further 45 runs, he was stumped on 113.