Check back this afternoon on nzherald.co.nz for ball by ball live scoring of the crucial one day game against England.
KEY POINTS:
All the talk has been of the pyrotechnics of Jesse Ryder and Brendon McCullum as New Zealand rocketed to a 2-0 ODI series lead in Hamilton this week.
They did a pretty fair job at the top of the order in the opening win in Wellington, too.
But
what about the bowlers? It is the sweat-and-toil merchants who set the foundation for what has followed in the one-day series so far.
And an argument can be put up that the most important over of the 84.5 New Zealand have required to take 20 English wickets, didn't get one of them.
It was, however, a maiden, bowled by Jacob Oram at Seddon Park to England's No 1 batsman Kevin Pietersen. As so often in sport, and life, timing was everything.
England were at 85 for two after 15 overs and rattling along, when the rain came.
After a couple of hours pondering their respective positions, the players returned. England had lost 14 overs, courtesy of the recalculation.
The 16th over by Oram kept Pietersen scoreless and the fielders on their toes. Perhaps things began to race in his - and England's - minds. It was the perfect way to restart after the batsmen had been in charge before the break.
In the next over Pietersen, looking to get things going, went lbw to Michael Mason, trying to force a ball towards mid-wicket. On another day he might have got the benefit from the umpire, but that's cricket.
Next ball, Paul Collingwood ran himself out - revealing himself as one of the few players in the world game unaware than Oram can rocket a ball in from the deep.
From there England displayed their grasp of the domino theory and went into a tumble.
But Oram's over had set out New Zealand's post-rain stall; England's edginess to make up for lost time cost them dearly.
At Wellington, having lost the toss, the New Zealand bowlers were outstanding in conditions they know and appreciate.
England were removed for 130. Chris Martin, for so long unwanted in the ODI side because his fielding is ordinary and he can't bat for toffee, and Scott Styris - doing the dobbing job which was Gavin Larsen's meat and drink not so long ago - both took two for 22.
Kyle Mills and Daniel Vettori were similarly parsimonious and offspinner Jeetan Patel chipped out the tail.
In Hamilton, Mills and Martin got some early hammer from Alastair Cook and Pietersen, but as England wobbled Mason, Oram and Vettori seized the moment.
Oram said the key to the bowlers' success has been based on denial.
"It's nothing flash, really," he said. "In Wellington we were helped by the nature of the pitch. I don't think that was a 130 wicket, just as Hamilton probably wasn't a 160 wicket. We're just happy as a bowling group to know what we're doing is paying off."
The bowlers have used change of pace, trying to keep the batsmen off guard. Oram said he bowls plenty of slower balls "because I try to change the pace so it's not the same thing coming down at them every time.
"Someone who's a bit quicker or has a bit more variation with swing and seam can get away with it a bit more."
Martin is a wicket-taker, but can be pricey, as he was in the Twenty20 match in Christchurch. Styris and Vettori were more likely to do a pinning down operation.
It's all about working as a team, as Mills explained: "The bowlers have got together and discussed our plans, the areas we wanted to bowl, and we were pretty specific with that. And we've been pretty hard on ourselves to get that right."
By contrast, England's bowlers, after some impressive work during their two Twenty20 wins, have gone off the boil. Even the best of them, left-armer Ryan Sidebottom, got some tap in Hamilton.
But as Oram - who has been top value with one for 32 from 15 overs in the two games - admitted, "tap" can happen to anyone.
"You know some days you bowl at the top of off-stump and the ball goes back over your head. Other days, it goes through the gate and knocks them over.
"That's just the way it works."
