Kiwis win a thriller, spoil Stokes’ return

Hamilton, February 26

A century by Ross Taylor and lusty late hitting by Mitch Santner delivered a last-over victory to New Zealand over England in their first ODI here today. 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.
Domination fluctuated throughout the match but when Ben Stokes celebrated his return to international cricket with the crucial wicket of Tom Latham, it appeared to put England in charge. However, Santner’s 45 off 27 balls swung the game back in New Zealand’s favour as they chased down England’s 284/8.
New Zealand were in immediate trouble at the start of their run chase as they slipped to 3/27 in the 10th over. Taylor, with his 18th century, and Latham clawed the home side back into the game with a 178-run stand for the fourth wicket before Stokes stepped up to remove Latham for 79 and New Zealand were 205/4 in the 40th over. Latham’s dismissal sparked a middle-order collapse with Henry Nicholls out for a duck and Colin de Grandhomme gone for two as three wickets fell for 10 runs.
As he started to run out of partners, Taylor 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. But if England had a whiff of victory, Santner had other ideas and got New Zealand home with a knock studded with two fours and four sixes.
Stokes, returning for his first international since a nightclub incident five months ago, had an undistinguished turn at bat after New Zealand won the toss and elected to bowl. The all-rounder lasted 22 balls and was gone for 12.

Brief scores: England 284/8 (Buttler 79, Root 71; Santner 2/54); NZ 287/7 (Taylor 113, Latham 79; Stokes 2/43)