‘Bizarre’ win stuns McCullum
21 Feb 2015 11:03 PM GMT
The Black Caps cemented their status as one of the favourites for the tournament with a dominant display as they recorded their third straight victory in as many Pool A matches, with this fixture completed in 45.4 overs, fewer than half the scheduled maximum for a one-day international.
“It’s a great win, while England have probably struggled of late, we knew we’d have to keep them quiet,” McCullum said at the presentation ceremony. As for man-of-the-match Southee’s haul, McCullum added: “It’s one of the best spells of bowling I’ve seen for a long time. Tim’s been leading our group for a long time and with Trent Boult, he got the ball swinging a huge amount. To win by that sort of margin, it’s bizarre really. We’ve earned ourselves a good break after a great first week of the tournament.”
Southee, roared on by a capacity 33,000 crowd at the Westpac Stadium, said: “A packed house was pretty special to come out in front of. We’ve been bowling well as a group for a long time and on Friday was one of those moments when it all went well for us. Our bowling coach, Shane Bond, does a lot of work behind the scenes and puts confidence into us.”
Not embarrassed by rout: Morgan
Under-fire England captain Eoin Morgan said his side was ‘disappointed’ rather than ‘embarrassed’ by New Zealand during the eight-wicket thumping on Friday. Asked whether the loss was embarrassing or shocking, a surprisingly calm Morgan replied: “Disappointing more than anything. The way New Zealand bowled, they built some pressure and we couldn’t cope with it.”
Morgan holed out to veteran spinner Daniel Vettori but the left-hander defended his choice of stroke by saying: “We kept trying to put the pressure on their bowlers and looking back, I still would have played that aggressive shot because at the time we needed to take the game continually to them because they were gaining control.”
“It’s a great win, while England have probably struggled of late, we knew we’d have to keep them quiet,” McCullum said at the presentation ceremony. As for man-of-the-match Southee’s haul, McCullum added: “It’s one of the best spells of bowling I’ve seen for a long time. Tim’s been leading our group for a long time and with Trent Boult, he got the ball swinging a huge amount. To win by that sort of margin, it’s bizarre really. We’ve earned ourselves a good break after a great first week of the tournament.”
Southee, roared on by a capacity 33,000 crowd at the Westpac Stadium, said: “A packed house was pretty special to come out in front of. We’ve been bowling well as a group for a long time and on Friday was one of those moments when it all went well for us. Our bowling coach, Shane Bond, does a lot of work behind the scenes and puts confidence into us.”
Not embarrassed by rout: Morgan
Under-fire England captain Eoin Morgan said his side was ‘disappointed’ rather than ‘embarrassed’ by New Zealand during the eight-wicket thumping on Friday. Asked whether the loss was embarrassing or shocking, a surprisingly calm Morgan replied: “Disappointing more than anything. The way New Zealand bowled, they built some pressure and we couldn’t cope with it.”
Morgan holed out to veteran spinner Daniel Vettori but the left-hander defended his choice of stroke by saying: “We kept trying to put the pressure on their bowlers and looking back, I still would have played that aggressive shot because at the time we needed to take the game continually to them because they were gaining control.”
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