England coach Trevor Bayliss has challenged his team to show their big-match pedigree ahead of next year’s World Cup in tonight’s one‑day series decider against New Zealand.
The match at Hagley Oval will be a homecoming for England all‑rounder Ben Stokes, who was born in Christchurch before moving to Cumbria as a youngster.
However, the focus in this fifth ODI will be firmly on England’s collective and how they deal with the pressure of performing in another winner-takes-all contest after they lost the Champions Trophy semi-final to Pakistan in Cardiff last June.
Eoin Morgan’s team have won their last five one-day series and, as hosts, are favourites for next year’s World Cup.
“These one-off matches, where it counts, it will be a good test for our guys heading into that World Cup,” Bayliss said.
“The way we’ve been playing one-day cricket, and obviously playing at home, we should go into that tournament as one of the favourites. With that, it brings a little bit of extra pressure — having to win those one-off matches — so this is a good test.”
New Zealand levelled the series at 2-2 with a five-wicket win in Dunedin on Wednesday after England collapsed from 267 for 1 in the 38th over of their innings to 335 for 9. Bayliss confirmed words have been exchanged following that spectacular implosion.
“We certainly had a chat about it after the game,” he said. “It is the first time one of our middle-order guys hasn’t come off.
“I think the important thing is that they learn from that. They’ve all got a little bit of a different way of going about it — so they need just to make sure they’re true to themselves and play the best way for them.”
Tonight, 10pm, Sky Sports
