England Tour of New Zealand 2025

The first match of the 3 T20I which was played on Saturday was a NO Result. After being put in to bat England lost regular wickets & were 114-6 after 16.4overs before Sam Curran made 49 from 35 balls to post a below par 153-6. The New Zealand bowlers exploited seam movement on a green tinged Christchurch pitch, despite the assistance on offer to the bowlers the total still felt a little light & England might have got away with one.

New Zealand v England 2nd T20I (N) - Christchurch
Toss - New Zealand elected to field
England 236-4 (20 overs) Salt 85 Brook 78 Banton 29 no Bethell 24 Jamison 2-47
New Zealand 171 (18 overs) Seifert 39 Santner 36 Chapman 28 Rashid 4-32 Carse 2-27 L Wood 2-36 Dawson 2-38
England won by 65 runs

New Zealand v England 3rd T20I (N) Auckland
Toss - England elected to field
New Zealand 38-1 (3.4/14 overs) Seifert 23 no
No Result

New Zealand v England 1st ODI - Mount Maunganui
Toss - New Zealand elected to field
England 223 (35.2 overs) Brook 135 J Overton 46 Foulkes 4-41 Duffy 3-55 Henry 2-53
New Zealand 224-6 (36.4 overs) Mitchell 78 no Bracewell 51 Santner 27 Latham 24 Carse 3-45
New Zealand won by 4 wickets

England found themselves in a whole heap of trouble after being asked to bat on a wicket that offered plenty of seam movement. Zakary Foulkes (4-41) on debut & Henry (2-53) reduced England t0-4 & later 56-6 before Overton (46) & Brook (135) added 87. Brook was last man out, his 135 came from 101 balls with 9 fours & 11 sixes. It would've been a very quick game otherwise.
When Carse removed Young & Williamson next ball for a golden duck, & Luke Wood dismissed Ravindra it was game on at 24-3. Cares took his 3rd wicket when he trapped Latham lbw when they had reached 66-4.
Mitchell (78 no) & Bracewell 51 added 92, but they were both given lives, Bracewell was dropped on 2 & Mitchell put down on 33. Santner (27) added a further 49 with Michell who then knocked off the remaining runs with Smith.
With the best part of 15 overs unused by England, another one or 2 decent contributions could've set a real demanding target.

New Zealand v England 2nd ODI - Hamilton - 01.00 am Tomorrow
Toss - New Zealand elected to field
England 175 (36 overs) J Overton 42 Brook 34 Root 25 Tickner 4-34 Smith 2-27
New Zealand 177-5 (33.1 overs) Ravindra 54 Mitchell 56 no Santner 34 no Williamson 21 Archer 3-23
New Zealand won by 5 wickets

New Zealand v England 3rd ODI
Toss - New Zealand elected to field
England 222 (40.3 overs) J Overton 68 Buttler 38 Carse 36 Tickner 4-64 Duffy 3-56 Foulkes 2-27
New Zealand 226-4 (44.5 overs) Ravindra 46 Mitchell 44 Conway 34 Santner 27 J Overton 2-32 S Curran 2-46
New Zealand won by 2 wickets

In terms of preparations for the Ashes it hasn't gone as great as they thought, I think. I think at times NZ seem to outsmart us just when we look like getting on top of it. It has to be humiliating.

Losing the toss on pitches that offered a lot of movement didn't help England's cause, not an excuse in itself, just a factor. England's style/mantra of going hard with the bat & if that fails go even harder isn't flexible, not batting out their overs has played a major part. Today they came close to a win but had almost 10 overs unused.