After two crashing defeats to New Zealand in the two 20/20 Internationals played at the end of last week; I am sure all England cricket lovers were looking forward to a highly successful One Day International campaign over the next week and a half.  How wrong we were.

England found themselves 2-0 down to a team that was lauded last week as the worst New Zealand team for 40 years.  It has been unbelievable to watch some of the suicidal cricket that we have played over the last two games.  The highlight of this being the running between the wickets in both games, complete school boy stuff and the planning that seemed to have gone into bowling at New Zealand’s new opening batsmen, Jesse Ryder.  It appeared it was the only game plan because it was blatantly obvious after the rotund opener played the first few balls with great authority that we needed a Plan B very quickly.  The game had come and gone in the space of half an hour and with it, I would imagine quite a bit of confidence and team spirit.

I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall in the England changing room immediately after the game to hear what was said.  Peter Moore’s gave the same 11 players the chance to redeem themselves after the first debacle in Wellington.  He will have to make a change or two with out of sorts Ravi Bopara and Owais Shah being the two lads to suffer the axe.  England right now need for their most experienced and better players to stand up, take the opposition by the scruff of the neck and win us what has suddenly become a massive game for the players and coaching staff alike.

Let’s hold our breath and hope when we turn the television on in the morning, we have plenty to cheer about.