New Zealand’s 1-run victory over England avenges pain of 2019

One run was England’s margin of victory on July 14, 2019 in the ODI World Cup at Lord’s. One run was the margin of New Zealand’s victory over England at the Basin Reserve, Wellington, New Zealand on February 28, 2023.

Having been privileged to witness both events live, it would be unjust to be asked to pick the best of the two. It could be argued that both of them deserved to be tied on the same score, with honors shared. This was the general feeling at Lord’s, where New Zealand were served a cruel blow by a ball which ricocheted to the boundary at a crucial moment toward the end of the match.

In Wellington, it was England who conspired to lose a match on which they held an iron grip on the first two days. Invited to bat first, England started poorly but a record fourth wicket partnership between Joe Root and Harry Brook of 302 propelled them to a score of 435 for eight, at which point a declaration was made. New Zealand responded badly, declining to 103 for seven, before captain Tim Southee bludgeoned 73 runs to inspire a partial recovery to 209 all out.

In four and five day cricket, if a side, batting second, is dismissed for a total that is more than 200 runs less than the side batting first, that team has the option to ask the other team to bat again, or follow-on. This was an option which used to be commonly deployed but, in recent years, has been eschewed, mainly on the grounds that bowlers may be tired, teams may show greater resistance the second time around or that the wicket is wearing, making batting in the fourth innings more tricky.

On this occasion, there was a slight argument for the former, the second was an unknown, but a strong possibility, whilst the third was unlikely, given the Basin Reserve’s