It's no longer boring, boring England

London: Once viewed as the perennial whipping boys of one-day cricket, New Zealand have not only reinvented themselves but have also helped inspire a remarkable transformation in England`s approach.

The natural fear and caution that has permeated the soul of English cricket and left the team off the pace in the one-day arena for much of the past 40 years has given way to a new belligerent, uninhibited style of play.

They trail New Zealand 2-1 in a five-match series after three action-packed games and the turnaround can probably be traced back to the humiliating defeat suffered at the hands of the Kiwis a few months ago.

At the start of this year Eoin Morgan`s team were the laughing stock of the 50-over World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.

While teams such as Australia, New Zealand, India and South Africa regularly posted scores of 350-400, England played a mind-numbingly boring style as they nudged and nurdled the ball around for 40 overs before launching a desperate late assault.

England reached the lowest of lows when they lost to the co-hosts by eight wickets in a Pool A match in Wellington in February.

New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum showed them how the modern game should be played, smashing 77 in 25 balls as the eventual runners-up to Australia sprinted to a meagre target of 124 in just 12.2 overs.

McCullum is one of the most destructive hitters in the game and has given his side real energy since taking over as skipper in all forms of cricket in 2012.

He encourages the other batsmen to follow his swashbuckling lead and the rest of the team have complete freedom to express themselves, secure in the knowledge there will be no recriminations if the tactics backfire.

As far as England are concerned, it was never all doom and gloom as they reached the World Cup final in 1979, 1987 and 1992.

But their failure to grasp the difference between test and one-day cricket was summed up when Geoff Boycott took 17 overs to reach double figures in the 1979 World Cup final against West Indies during a painstaking opening stand of 129 which put too much pressure on the rest of the side to reach a target of 287.
OFF THE PACE

England won the Twenty20 World Cup in 2010 but in recent 50-over tournaments they have been way off the pace.

With Ashes victories over Australia mixed in with other bright moments in the test arena, they rarely seemed to consider re-evaluating their approach to the longer format of the limited-over game.

The shake-up, though, has been stunning against New Zealand and England are winning new friends and admirers with a fearless approach to the art of batting.

England have bludgeoned their way to totals of 408, 365 and 302 and critics have been forced to eat their words among the torrent of sixes and fours pouring from the flailing bats of Morgan, Jos Buttler, Ben Stokes, Joe Root et al.

Former captain Ian Botham, who flourished a flashing blade of his own in the 1970s and 1980s, hailed "new England" after they cracked an ODI record 408 for nine in the first match of the series.

"It was magnificent," said Botham, now a Sky Sports pundit. "It`s probably the best I`ve seen any England one-day side bat. 

"They came out with nothing but positive thoughts with the bat and the ball so it could be a really exciting time in a format that England have really under-performed in.

"If you`re going to compete with the best in this format of cricket these are the kind of scores you`ve got to be thinking of," added the great all-rounder. 

"You can`t do it every time, and there will be times when you attack and it goes wrong, but if you have that attitude and belief ... you can go far. This is something I haven`t seen from England in ODIs for a very long time."

The 50-over World Cup was launched in 1975. England have never won the trophy and captain Morgan has a four-year plan in mind to prepare for the 2019 edition on home soil.

"We`ve come a long way in the last three games, scoring 300-plus in each of them which is a huge achievement and a big turnaround," he said. 

"We are trying to change our process. I want the guys to continue with that mindset."