LONDON, (Reuters) – Once viewed as the perennial whipping boys of one-day cricket, New Zealand have not only reinvented themselves but have also helped inspire a remarkable transformation in England’s approach.
The natural fear and caution that has permeated the soul of English cricket and left the team off the pace in the one-day arena for much of the past 40 years has given way to a new belligerent, uninhibited style of play.
They trail New Zealand 2-1 in a five-match series after three action-packed games and the turnaround can probably be traced back to the humiliating defeat suffered at the hands of the Kiwis a few months ago.
At the start of this year Eoin Morgan’s team were the laughing stock of the 50-over World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.
While teams such as Australia, New Zealand, India and South Africa regularly posted scores of 350-400, England played a mind-numbingly boring style as they nudged and nurdled the ball around for 40 overs before launching a desperate late assault.
England reached the lowest of lows when they lost to the co-hosts by eight wickets in a Pool A match in Wellington in February.
New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum showed them how the modern game should be played, smashing 77 in 25 balls as the eventual runners-up to Australia sprinted to a meagre target of 124 in just 12.2 overs.
McCullum is one of the most destructive hitters in the game and has given his side real energy since taking over as skipper in all forms of cricket in 2012.
He encourages the other batsmen to follow his swashbuckling lead and the rest of the team have complete freedom to express themselves, secure in the knowledge there will be no recriminations if the tactics backfire.
As far as England are concerned, it was never all doom and gloom as they reached the World Cup final in 1979, 1987 and 1992.
But their failure to grasp the difference between test and one-day cricket was summed up when Geoff Boycott took 17 overs to reach double figures in the 1979 World Cup final against West Indies during a painstaking opening stand of 129 which put too much pressure on the rest of the side to reach a target of 287.
OFF THE PACE
England won the Twenty20 World Cup in 2010 but in recent 50-over tournaments they have been way off the pace.
With Ashes victories over Australia mixed in with other bright moments in the test arena, they rarely seemed to consider re-evaluating their approach to the longer format of the limited-over game.
