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Friday 15 February 2008

Yippee .... England 3 v 2 Black Caps

Paul Collingwood played a captain's knock to steer England to a six-wicket win and their first victory in the one-day series against New Zealand. (BBC Sport Friday 15th February 2008)

Opting to field, England had the Kiwis 95-6 but Jacob Oram smashed 88 off 91 balls in a total of 234-9. Chasing a revised 229 from 47 overs, Ian Bell (73) and Kevin Pietersen (41) shared 107 but fell to Daniel Vettori.

Collingwood hit three sixes in a rapid 70 and sealed the win with 18 balls left to cut the hosts' lead to 2-1. It was an important victory for England, who were comprehensively beaten having made low scores batting first in the opening matches.

With Dimi Mascarenhas and Luke Wright recalled at the expense of Graeme Swann and Ravi Bopara, the tourists chose to field and looked a different team.

Anderson, who failed to take a wicket in the two previous games, struck in the second over and England were dominant. He surprised Brendon McCullum with a short one that nipped back at the right-hander and forced him to fend to second slip.

Ryan Sidebottom was troubled by the stiff south-westerly wind, which played havoc with his unruly hair and several times caused him to abort his run to the crease. But together with Stuart Broad, England's seam trio found the right areas consistently and allowed the captain to bowl them through the 20 overs of powerplays.