Ben Stokes’ 182 on Wednesday set up a crushing of New Zealand at The Oval and served as a reminder to the champions’ World Cup rivals just weeks before they begin their 50-over championship defense in India. It was the highest score by an English batsman in a one-day international.
Prior to Friday’s series finale at Lord’s, Stokes’ incredible innings was only marginally more than England’s enormous 181-run margin of victory, which gave them a 2-1 lead in the four-match series.
After Trent Boult’s early double strike, which saw Jonny Bairstow leave the game after the first ball, England was in trouble at 13-2.
England recovered to 368 all out, but Stokes and Dawid Malan (96) changed the course of the match with a third-wicket stand of 199.
Glenn Phillips kept England at bay with 72 but when he was lbw to spinner Liam Livingstone, the Black Caps were all but beaten at 173-8.
Livingstone (3-16) ended the match with 11 overs to spare when he had No 11 Ben Lister stumped by England captain Jos Buttler as New Zealand were dismissed for 187.
“Coming back into the team after a while out, it’s nice to come back and help the team,” said player-of-the-match Stokes at the presentation ceremony.
