Buzzin Cricket

The one day series against New Zealand has been a very mixed bag for England. Paul Collingwood’s men started off well with a convincing 114 run victory, then they were thankful to the rain in the second game, a batting collapse cost them in the third and a mistake on the last ball of the innings in the most recent match has handed New Zealand a 2-1 lead in the series.

With just one game left to be played, the best England can hope for is a draw. Considering the start they made, this would be disappointing, but a drawn series is better than a lost one I suppose. England still have a lot to do to prove they can perform consistently in the one-day format and these games against the Kiwis have highlighted just that.

If England were to perform as well as they did in the first match consistently, they can beat anyone in this form of the game – and I mean anyone. A perfect batting performance was followed by a convincing bowling display and it looked as if England would continue their dominance over Daniel Vettori’s men. As we know, this has been far from the case.

To say that it has been an eventful couple of weeks for Paul Collingwood would be an understatement.  He has taken wickets and scored some much needed runs but this has been overshadowed by controversy. First up, there was the ‘bad light stopped play’ incident in the second match. Then in the most recent game, it all kicked off for the England captain. He refused to overrule the Elliot run-out after the batsmen had collided with Ryan Sidebottom – something he has been widely criticised for.

Then, since the game, he has been banned from four one-day internationals for a slow over rate in New Zealand’s innings. This for me seems ludicrous, a four game ban for being two overs behind the rate? I would say that’s a bit harsh.

Now it is up to Kevin Pietersen to lead England to a victory in the final game against New Zealand this summer. It is a great chance for KP to show that he has what it takes to captain the side and if he does well then Collingwood – who is likely to be replaced by Dimi Mascarenhas in Saturday’s game – will start to feel under pressure.

After everything that has happened this week, a look at some cricket odds will probably tell you that New Zealand are slight favourites for this one. Their confidence is up after two victories and they will want to finish the tour well. As for England and Pietersen, it is vital that they finish the series on a high to carry some momentum into the South Africa series that starts next month.