Cross: ‘Ruthless’ England eyeing series sweep of New Zealand

England seamer Kate Cross says the team are expecting a response from New Zealand and for the visitors to play “harder” in the third one-day international in Bristol on Wednesday after two convincing victories for the hosts.

England clinched a series win over the White Ferns with an eight-wicket thumping of their opponents in Sunday’s second ODI in Worcester – making it six-straight ODI series wins since Jon Lewis took over as head coach in 2022.

England have lost only two ODIs in that span of 17 matches, with Cross emphasising the side’s quest to be “consistently ruthless”.

Wednesday 3rd July 12:30pm

“It’s something we talk about a lot,” Cross told Sky Sports ahead of the third ODI – live on Sky Sports Cricket on Wednesday from 12.30pm (first ball, 1pm).

“It’s a difficult skill to nail down but that’s what we’re trying to work out as a one-day unit, how to be consistently ruthless.

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“Obviously that changes with pitch conditions, opposition, where we are in the world and how we play our cricket.

“We’ve not lost an ODI series under Lewy [Jon Lewis] yet… so there’s obviously a ruthless element in that.

“But there’s still a lot of inexperience in the group – we’ve still got a lot of young faces around. Bouch is a good example, she’d only played 10 games [before her hundred on Sunday].”

Bouchier (100no off 88 balls) hit the winning runs in England’s eight-wicket second ODI triumph to take her through to her first career hundred, Nat Sciver-Brunt (2no off 12 balls) having helped by farming the strike late on.

Following on from England’s nine-wicket win in the series opener – New Zealand bowled out for 157 and 142 in two poor performances – it means the hosts have only lost three wickets across the series, one of which was a run out.

“That goes to show how clear our batters are on their plans,” Cross said.

“What I think has been brilliant to watch, from a team-mate point of view and a fan point of view, is just how clinical and ruthless we’ve been with our performances – particularly with the bat.

“Bouchier has been incredible. She’s been threatening to have that kind of role at the top of the order and it’s great to see her coming into her own now.

“Obviously to score her first hundred the other day, and how Nat batted, it epitomises what we’re about as a team.”

One of England’s only two defeats suffered under Lewis’ leadership came in the final match of their tour of New Zealand in April and Cross is keen for the hosts to show that new-found ruthless streak by closing out a series sweep with victory in the third ODI.

“We were expecting a response from them in Worcester,” Cross said of New Zealand. “That was what Lewy spoke to us about before – ‘teams from the southern hemisphere don’t just lie down, they are going to come back at us’.

“I think they’re probably searching for how to approach their batting innings and I definitely expect that to come together a little bit more at Bristol.

“We’re well aware that they’re a team that wants to fight back and that they won’t want to lose the series 3-0, that’s for sure. We’re definitely expecting that they will come at us a little bit harder.”

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