‘Shame to not get across the line’ – Kane Williamson

Kane Williamson, who signalled a welcome return to run-scoring ways with an unbeaten 112 in the third one-day international against England in Wellington on Saturday, 3 March, rued his failure to take New Zealand over the line as his team went down by four runs to slip 2-1 behind in the five-match series.

“Just a shame to not get across the line,” said Williamson after the match. “The bowling unit did a good job. It was a competitive total [England scored 234] at the halfway stage. Mitch Santner, who is in tremendous form, came in and batted well. To get a bit of momentum and take the game deep, he was crucial.

“It was very frustrating. Credit to England, they had to assess and get a good total. We started off really well and in the middle, we were in a position of strength after 15 overs or so, but stumbled in the middle, which really hit us and we had to take it even deeper. The way English spinners bowled was brilliant throughout that middle period.”

The stumble Williamson referred to was a dramatic one. Colin Munro and he had taken New Zealand to 80/1 when Adil Rashid sent Munro back for a 62-ball 49. In no time after that, it was 103/6, with Moeen Ali picking up three wickets and Rashid one more.

“It was a brilliant game,” said Ali, who was named the Player of the Match. “It was very tight in the end but fantastic last few overs by us. When I went in we felt we were a few runs short so I tried to have a whack. It was a difficult wicket to bat on, especially in the first innings.

“It was a great wicket for the spinners to bowl on. My plan was to bowl tight and the wickets came. They weren't great balls or anything. We wanted to build pressure and hopefully get some wickets because of it, that's what I do in ODIs personally. As an off-spinner, I try and build pressure and it was nice to get my 10 overs through. In the end it takes only one over each way and we knew we could win the game. It was a good day for us.”

Despite Mark Chapman, Tom Latham, Henry Nicholls and Colin de Grandhomme failing with the bat, Williamson insisted that there was no concern, only saying “it was just not our day”. Of those four, Nicholls has actually scored just one in the three ODIs against England.

Earlier in the day, Eoin Morgan partnered with Ben Stokes to lift England after a wobble left them at 68/3. The two added 71 runs, with Morgan scoring 48 and Stokes a painstaking 39 in 73 balls. It took some late-order hitting from Jos Buttler, Ali, Chris Woakes and Rashid to lift England to a competitive total.

“Once again, it was a brilliant game of cricket,” said Morgan. “Our spin twins did a brilliant job on a pitch that was helping them – 230 made for an entertaining game today. When there is something on offer, it rejuvenates the energy of players. Our bowlers did a great job in the end. Woakes has defended 13 in the final over against the likes of (Mahendra Singh) Dhoni in a T20 game, I remembered. He is a guy who is an unsung hero, but has been very successful for us.”