England vs New Zealand, 3rd ODI - Live Cricket Score, Commentary

Series: New Zealand tour of England, 2015 Venue: The Rose Bowl, Southampton Date & Time: Jun 14, 10:30 AM LOCAL

The ODI series heads to Southampton with England and New Zealand tied one match apiece. As Novak Djokovic or Stanislas Wawrinka would tell, the third set of a five-round bout is the most crucial of them all, especially so when the tie is squared 1-1. The winner then needs to win just the one from the final two to clinch it and common sense suggests that no team likes playing catch up.

England have been a revelation in the series. It's as if a massive weight of their shoulders has been lifted and their brand of adventurous cricket has in the two matches gone by have turned heads. New Zealand survived an almighty scare at the Oval but now head into the third ODI having levelled the series.

As has often been the case in the last 24 months of ODI cricket, bowlers have routinely been reduced to bit-part roles. But it is what it is.

Strap on your seat-belts. This one promises to be fun.

Joe Root brought up his 9th ODI fifty and powered England, also sharing a hundred-plus stand with Eoin Morgan for the third wicket. Six fours have come in so far in Root's run-a-ball knock.

On the other hand, Morgan got another reprieve, this time on 36 when Santner was not able to hold onto a return catch off his own bowling.

Eoin Morgan insisted at the toss that England would reprise their brand of enterprising cricket after winning the toss and electing to bat. Their bowling attack suffered enforced changes as youngsters David Willey and Mark Wood replaced the injured Liam Plunkett and Chris Jordan.

McCullum, for his part, wasn't overly concerned about having to bowl first. For New Zealand are playing with four seamers in an early start with a bit of a cloud cover to aid the seamers. The signs, though, are ominous as Trent Boult (injured) had to be left out. Matt Henry and Ben Wheeler (left-armer quick) were drafted in. Nathan McCullum misses out.

Teams:

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New Zealand lost four wickets for less than 50 runs as England looked to get back in the game.

First to go was Kane Williamson, who departed after scoring a magnificent 118 and shared a 206-run stand with Ross Taylor. His wicket was immediately followed by Grant Elliot's.

Meanwhile, Ross Taylor brought up his second consecutive ODI hundred. In two back-to-back ODIs, Taylor has performed remarkably for New Zealand and brought them to the doorstep of victory.

Mitchell Santner stuck with Ross Taylor for a while and put up a 35-runs stand scoring a quick 21 but he and Ross Taylor were sent back in successive overs to slow down New Zealand further.

For a brief while, the New Zealand supporters almost had their hearts in their mouths as the visitors lost wickets towards the fag end of the match.

England bowled very tight but they had left it for too late. The match had already slipped out of their hands when they allowed Williamson and Taylor to put up a double century stand for the third wicket. In two successive matches, both these Kiwi stars have powered their team to brilliant wins.

This, by the way, is New Zealand's highest successful run chase away from home. They have now gone 2-1 up in the five-match ODI series.