5 hours ago
5
Second one-day international, Hamilton
England 175 (36 overs): Overton 42 (28); Tickner 4-34
New Zealand 177-5 (33.1 overs): Mitchell 56* (59) Ravindra 54 (58); Archer 3-23
New Zealand won by five wickets; lead series 2-0
England's top order collapsed again as their pre-Ashes preparations suffered a setback with a five-wicket defeat to New Zealand in the second one-day international in Hamilton.
The tourists were bowled out for 175 with 14 overs of their innings left unused before New Zealand knocked off the runs with relative ease to clinch the series 2-0 with one match left to play.
Jamie Overton top scored for England as he bludgeoned 42 off 28 balls during a counter-attacking knock.
That innings came after Test players Jamie Smith, Joe Root, Jacob Bethell and Brook had all got starts without being able to manifest them into anything of greater substance.
Blair Tickner claimed 4-34 while fellow seamer Nathan Smith took 2-27 as the rest of England's order stumbled to a underwhelming total against a disciplined New Zealand attack.
Jofra Archer gave England some early hope with the ball when he pinned opener Will Young lbw with the fourth ball of the Black Caps' innings.
Kane Williamson showed his nous as he soaked up the pressure with a gritty 21 before he was dismissed by Overton.
England still had hope when Archer ended Rachin Ravindra's fluent innings of 54 and then strangled Michael Bracewell down the leg side.
But Daryl Mitchell's unbeaten 56 and skipper Mitchell Santner's breezy 34 not out got New Zealand home with a mammoth 101 balls to spare.
The tourists will hope for an improvement in the third ODI on Saturday (01:00 GMT) while this match will be best remembered for:
England's top-order struggles continuing as key batters miss out on time at the crease with the Ashes on the horizon
Encouraging signs from Archer in his first ODI against New Zealand since the 2019 World Cup final as he finished with three wickets
Ravindra's confident strokeplay backed up by excellent game awareness from Mitchell and Santner
England were presented with an awkward green top at the Bay Oval in the first ODI and their rusty top order - Brook's majestic hundred aside - found it tough going.
The surface at Seddon Park had a more appreciable straw-coloured hue, but the outcome for their Test contingent hoping to find form before they head across the Tasman Sea was similar.
Admittedly, this capitulation was not quite as dramatic as the one at Mount Maunganui, with movement through the air and off the pitch not as pronounced.
In the first powerplay here there was much less swing - 0.69 degrees versus 1.31 - and seam - 0.57 degrees versus 0.89 - compared to Sunday.
England wickets nevertheless fell regularly through a combination of good bowling, bad luck and poor judgment.
Duckett nicked behind off a good ball Jacob Duffy for just a single as his lean trot from the end of the English summer continued.
Fellow opener Smith perished on 13 when he skied one attempting to hit Zac Foulkes across the line.
Root had reached 25 when he was frustrated to miss out on two deliveries from Tickner down leg side - neither of which were called wide - and ended up tickling the third to Tom Latham.
At a parlous 51-3 England were vulnerable, but Bethell and Brook initially appeared assured only for things to unravel via a duff pull shot and slash to backward point on 18 and 34 respectively.
Overton at least added a degree of competitiveness to the total although their were scant contributions from the remainder of the lower order as New Zealand ruthlessly closed the innings out.
Are England's batting struggles in these first two ODIs an early portent for another southern hemisphere winter of discontent?
Hopefully not for England fans. But opportunities for England's Test batters to spend time in the middle before the first Ashes Test in Perth on 21 November are running out.
