England captain Harry Brook pinpoints England's issue after being swept by New Zealand in One-Day International series
Published 01/11/2025 at 11:59 GMT
England's men have now lost five out of their last six One-Day Internationals after being swept 3-0 by New Zealand. Captain Harry Brook does have one theory as to why the team might be struggling but remained optimistic about where they are at moving forward with a World Cup less than two years away. His opposite number, Mitchell Santner, was delighted with the different ways his team won.
Highlights: England's batting falters again as New Zealand sweep the series in dramatic fashion
Video credit: TNT Sports
England captain Harry Brook has offered up a theory as to why his team have been struggling in One-Day Internationals recently, after being swept 3-0 by New Zealand.
England have won just one of their last seven ODI series and have lost five of their last six matches.
New Zealand completed their sweep on Saturday thanks to a two-wicket victory.
It is the first time in 42 years that New Zealand have beaten England in a three-match ODI series and continues a poor run of form that started under former captain Jos Buttler.
England batted first in all three ODI matches in New Zealand and only posted scores of 223, 175 and 222.
When asked about his team's struggles in the post-match interview, it was put to Brook that maybe the team aren't putting enough runs on the board.
"No definitely not. Obviously that’s one thing we’ve spoken about, we didn’t quite get big enough scores to be able to defend them and give the bowlers the best chance to win us the game.
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'We just haven’t been good enough' - Brook admits there is work to do for England
Video credit: TNT Sports
"We’ll go back, we’ll take the learnings we’ve had from this trip here, and we’ll try our best to be better in the future.
"It probably didn’t help that I didn’t win a toss, it favoured the toss a little bit, but look they’re the second-best team in the world for a reason. They’ve outplayed us in this series, we just haven’t been good enough and hopefully we just bounce back."
The pitches on show have drawn comment as well, with the bowlers having plenty to work with on more lively surfaces with the New Zealand summer still a few weeks away.
Brook, however, was keen not to put that down as an excuse.
"They were tricky, they had quite a bit in them, their guys were swinging the ball and getting the most out of the pitch. So it was tricky, but we have to find ways in the future, if we want to be one of the best teams in the world and win world competitions."
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Santner hails his team's match-winners
Brook's opposite number, Mitchell Santner, conceded that the toss probably played a role in Saturday's outcome but across the series was keen to praise his team for the way they dug in and found solutions through different players.
"I think this game it [the toss] was massive. There was obviously a lot there with the new ball and I guess when you can get wickets in the powerplay it’s obviously massive.
"Both Duff [Jacob Duffy] and Zak [Foulkes], when it’s swinging up and around it’s a bit of a challenge so I think Jamie O[Overton] and Carsey [Brydon Carse] got them up to a decent score in the end and make it pretty challenging for us with the bat."
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New Zealand's triumphant captain Santner reflects on ODI series win over England
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Zak Foulkes and Jacob Duffy dismantled the sloppy England top order to reduce the tourists to 44-5.
The same pair then guided New Zealand home in the case with two wickets remaining after an opening stand of 78 from Devon Conway and Rachin Ravindra helped lay the platform.
"I think you want guys to go out there and play the way they feel is best and today I think the opening partnership was outstanding," said Santner.
"Some good, quick bowling in the first 10 and they were able to get through that powerplay and I guess you want guys to finish the job at times but you don’t want them to change the way they’ve been going about it when they’ve been successful. And obviously a couple of run outs in the middle is never ideal.
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'What kind of shot was that?' - Santner hits astonishing six off Carse
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"I guess that’s the most pleasing thing about it is different guys stepping up at different times throughout every chase, but I think credit to the England bowlers they never made it easy throughout all three games, they made it pretty hard, especially on wickets that still had something in them and I think the way Daryl [Mitchell] was able to control the middle in all three games was outstanding for us."
New Zealand now welcome the West Indies for both a white-ball series and a red-ball series whilst England will turn their full attention to preparing for the start of The Ashes, which begins on November 21, live on TNT Sports and discovery+.
Watch every ball of the Ashes live on TNT Sports and discovery+
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