Hapless England hammered by Kiwis

CB Series, Perth: New Zealand 318-7 bt England 260-7 (50 overs) by 58 runs
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England produced another woeful display to slump to a 58-run defeat by New Zealand in their CB Series game.

Only Monty Panesar (2-35) bowled with real control as the Kiwis racked up 318-7 in Perth, aided by 22 wides and occasionally shambolic fielding.

Lou Vincent (76) and Ross Taylor (71) put on 137 before Jacob Oram smashed four sixes in his 54 off only 33 balls.

Ed Joyce (66) hit his maiden ODI fifty and Paul Nixon finished on 49 but England came up well short on 260-8.

They need to win their last two games - one of which is against the rampant Australians - and hope New Zealand lose both theirs to qualify for the best-of-three finals.

That looks unlikely after another miserable day for a team that has become used to losing and was again without captain Michael Vaughan (hamstring).

Liam Plunkett gave them a good start, after taking a while to realise fuller deliveries were the way to go on a good pitch, by trapping Stephen Fleming plumb lbw and having Peter Fulton caught behind.
Vincent was dropped by Ian Bell at short extra-cover when on 33 and Taylor had a reprieve on 30 when umpire Steve Davis refused to refer a stumping appeal from Nixon off Monty Panesar.

Apart from those scares the duo tore into some dreadful bowling, particularly from Jamie Dalrymple (0-43 off five overs), as the 100 partnership came up off 116 balls.

There were plenty of embarrassing moments in the field, with fielders letting the ball slip through hands and legs, poor backing up and wayward throwing.

But Panesar - who impressed with his fielding as well as his left-arm spin - deservedly had Craig McMillan stumped and Brendon McCullum caught in a spell which suggested the Kiwi score could be kept under 300.

That was until burly left-hander Oram scored 35 runs in 10 balls, hitting three maximums as 38 runs were shipped in the last two overs from Chris Tremlett (1-72) and Andrew Flintoff (0-66).

New Zealand, although far from flawless themselves, were nowhere near as generous in the field and had bowlers who could land the ball more consistently in the right areas.

Bell (31) and Joyce looked anything but convincing early on before launching some high-quality strokes.

Joyce whipped Franklin through mid-wicket and cracked Oram twice through the cover-point region, while Bell's straight drive off Franklin was one of the best shots of the day.

Just when the partnership was blossoming and the Warwickshire man crashed a flat six off Jeetan Patel over long-off, he chipped straight to mid-wicket in the off-spinner's first over.

Joyce completed his fifty shortly after but it was pretty much all downhill from there.

Andrew Strauss' wretched run continued when Vettori deceived him with a quicker ball, while Joyce was run out by a sharp piece of fielding from Vincent at mid-on.

Part-time bowler McMillan, brought on after Oram injured his right ribs catching Joyce off a Patel no-ball, saw Collingwood meekly pick out short fine-leg and Dalrymple hole out to deep cover.

Flintoff also gave his wicket away, bowled shuffling across to the excellent Vettori (2-40).

New Zealand's fielding then deteriorated rapidly, with Nixon (twice) and Plunkett dropped as edges and shots flew all over the place.

The eighth-wicket pair added 76 and saw out the 50 overs but the game had long been up for England.