England were easily beaten in the third ODI game against New Zealand on the 1st of November 2025. The loss meant that the Kiwis won all three games and the 3-0 defeat leaves England with a lot of work to do, both in terms of the 50-over side and also with the Ashes series in Australia drawing ever closer.
England had managed to beat the hosts 1-0 in a T20 series that saw two of the three games rained off. However, any hopes they had of upsetting the hosts in this series were badly misplaced. They were always set to be up against it, given NZ are ranked number two in the world and England are way down in eighth, behind Afghanistan. Moreover, the Kiwis are an excellent outfit in their own country.
That is perhaps an understatement, as they have now won an incredible 25 of the 29 ODIs they have played on home soil since back in 2019. In theory, there isn’t all that much difference between conditions in New Zealand and in England. However, while both tend to offer a lot to the bowlers, the Kiwis have mastered batting at home in a way that no rivals have been able to get anywhere near.
Three Easy Wins for Formidable Hosts
We battled back with the ball, but New Zealand win by 2 wickets to take a 3-0 clean sweep in the series. pic.twitter.com/E5G1z2y5l4
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) November 1, 2025
On paper, wins by four, five and two wickets do not look especially easy. However, it should be noted that in the first two games they won with a combined 30 overs to spare, while in the final match only a flurry of late wickets added a veneer of respectability for England. New Zealand have a formidable battery of quicks that know just how to bowl at home. Admittedly, they were helped by winning the toss for all three games, with England sent in to bat each time, when conditions were toughest.
Across the series, the tourists were dismissed for 223, 175 and 222, only once, in that final game, making it as far as the last 10 overs – and then only facing two balls of that final period. How much credit you apportion to the bowlers and how much you have to query England’s batters is complex. However, one thing is certain: England’s batting unit has a lot of work to do before the start of the Ashes in Perth later in November.
Worrying Signs with Ashes Weeks Away
England’s only red-ball cricket prior to facing the Aussies in Western Australia on the 21st of November comes in a three-day game against the England Lions a week earlier. Given this (some might say) ill-judged and decidedly lacklustre preparation schedule, there was a hope that these three games would give England’s batsmen a chance to get up to speed.
Ben Duckett, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Jamie Smith and Jacob Bethell all featured. The first four are certainties to start against Australia, while Bethell was picked in the hope he would put pressure on Ollie Pope for the number three position. Pope is the only player to have done well out of this, and after Bethell made scores of two, 18 and 11, the former will surely get the nod for Perth.
Brook made a fantastic 131 (101 balls) in the first game, but the other Test batters made just six between them. In the second fixture, ODI skipper Brook made 34, but Duckett was out for 1, Smith for 13 and Root for 25. The final game was even worse, and while Bethell made double figures, none of the four Test starters did, registering just 21 between them. In all, the five played a total of 15 innings during the series and only reached 10 on six occasions.
Bowlers Looked Good
Those trying to find positives need look no further than the performances of the two Test bowlers that featured in the series. Jofra Archer was superb and, for much of the series, unplayable. In the second fixture, he bowled 51 dot balls! He bowled a quick and controlled spell and took 3/23.
In the first game, Brydon Carse impressed, taking 3/45 with Archer rested. The duo were paired together for the third game and again bowled well, though with less to show for it. Much of England’s focus in preparing for this series has been on forging a bowling unit capable of going toe to toe with the Aussie quicks. If these two are anything to go by, things look very bright on that front. Let’s take any positives we can at this stage!
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