Harry Brook could not hide his frustration after England slumped to another heavy one-day defeat, this time by 89 runs in Hamilton. The result leaves his side 2–0 down with one to play and represents a sixth series loss in seven attempts.
“It’s disappointing, isn’t it,” Brook said. “You go round every single player there and you think, ‘bloody hell, there aren’t many teams that they don’t get into in the world’. It’s disappointing we haven’t performed as well as we could.”
England were bundled out for 175 chasing 265, only three days after folding for 234 at Mount Maunganui. On both occasions their batting felt rushed rather than assertive, a pattern that has dogged the team all year. They have now been bowled out in seven of eight away ODIs in 2025, and, as Wisden noted this week, have yet to pass 250 in an innings that does not contain a Joe Root fifty.
The numbers jar with a dressing-room rich in experience. Five of the top six are also Test regulars, all comfortable playing the expansive strokes championed under Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum. Yet Brook admitted the transition to 50-over rhythm still jars. “It’s not too dissimilar to the way we play Test cricket, really,” he said. “We play aggressively in Test cricket and it’s not too far off.”
England’s stated plan remains to “go hard”, but too often that means all or nothing: scores of 350 when it clicks, collapses when it does not. The skipper refused to blame luck at the toss for those collapses. “That’s just an excuse,” he insisted. “I haven’t won many tosses, I’d have liked to have had a bowl today [in Hamilton] but that’s just an excuse. Everybody in that batting line-up is good enough to be able to face a swinging and seaming ball, cope with that and score runs against that.”
New Zealand deserve credit for exploiting home conditions. Matt Henry found movement with the new ball, Trent Boult remained accurate, and Mitchell Santner strangled the middle overs. England’s response lacked similar discipline until late in the Kiwi innings, when Jofra Archer, back in national colours for the first time this winter, delivered a rousing 10-over spell of 3 for 23. Had the batting matched that control, Brook’s mood might have been lighter.
Former England captain Nasser Hussain, speaking on television commentary, remarked that Archer’s return was “the one genuine plus England can hang on to” but warned the wider batting malaise “needs urgent attention before the Champions Trophy cycle begins”.
Coach Matthew Mott, while not apportioning blame publicly, is understood to be pushing for greater clarity around roles, particularly for the middle order. There is also talk of reintroducing a floating batter to steady innings that start badly, rather than persisting with a fixed order come what may.
For now, Brook simply wants his side to turn effort into substance. “I can’t quite put my finger on why we haven’t batted well enough. It’s just one of those things. You come to play the second-best team in the world on their own patch and they’ve hammered us.”
The third ODI in Wellington on Saturday offers a final chance to salvage pride. Win there and England can at least leave with momentum; lose and the questions around an ageing white-ball core and an impatient philosophy will only grow louder.
Either way, Archer’s fitness and a glimpse of Liam Livingstone’s late flourish — 41 from 38 balls — provide slender reasons for optimism. The challenge, as ever in 50-over cricket, is marrying that flair with patience. Until England manage it, series defeats such as this one will continue to sting, no matter how entertaining the intention.
