‘Bowlers set the tone, built pressure’ – Eoin Morgan

Six hundreds and 11 fifties were scored by England and New Zealand players in their five one-day internationals. But even as the batsmen caught the attention, it was the work of the bowlers that earned England a 3-2 series victory.

Eoin Morgan, the captain, and Jonny Bairstow, the Player of the Match for his blistering 60-ball 104, hailed the contribution of the bowlers in restricting New Zealand – without Ross Taylor again – to 223 in the decider.

“They set the platform as they have done first up all the way though the series. The way the guys have taken wickets early on has enabled us to turn the screws in the middle,” said Bairstow.

Chris Woakes and Mark Wood did the early damage, before the spinners came on. While Moeen Ali contained – he had 38 dot balls in his 10 overs – Adil Rashid took the wickets, three of them.

“Our bowlers really set the tone,” said Morgan. “[There was] probably a little more bounce and we really did take advantage of that. The execution, particularly by Mark Wood and Chris Woakes, was outstanding and we really did create opportunities by building pressure. Following that was always hard to do, but I think we did that. Our two spinners really did take advantage of a little bit of turn today.”

Woakes, who finished with 10 wickets from five matches at an average of 20.3, was declared Player of the Series.

“He’s been outstanding and he’s had an outstanding winter,” praised Morgan. “And if it’s a batter’s game, he can bat as well. He’s been contributing a huge amount down the order for us and obviously he leads our attack with the ball. He’s a guy who’s played a lot of cricket, doesn’t take a lot of the limelight, but certainly goes about his business in the right order and mentality.”

Woakes himself was surprised with the honour. “Wickets up front in one-day cricket is crucially important,” he said of his role. “When you have guys like they have in the top order, they can take the game away from you, and it’s important to get the wickets up front. Hopefully it stems the flow and gives the spinners an opportunity to bowl through the middle.”

Morgan was also delighted with the aggression shown by the batsmen to back the bowlers up. Bairstow, with two consecutive centuries in the series, has made the most of his promotion in the order.

“It’s just a case of giving yourself some extra time at the top,” he said. “When you’re actually out there and doing it, it can be quite frustrating, especially when you’re 1 or 2 off 10 balls, but nowadays you can try catch that up later on.

“Opening the batting is a little different to batting in the middle order. My job is to go out and score big hundreds and score match-winning scores ... it’s work in progress.”

Kane Williamson, the New Zealand captain, rued the soft dismissals and the team’s inability to put in a complete performance all series.

“We lost the toss and they bowled very, very well, didn’t give us much. The ball did stand up a little bit, but we had to weather that and make good decisions, and we lacked discipline with the bat,” he said. “A good showing again with Mitch Santner and Henry Nicholls to get us to a score that if we bowled really well, you never know. But it was a disappointing effort from our part.”

The teams next play the first pink-ball Test in Auckland on 22 March.