Nottingham, United Kingdom--England captain Eoin Morgan said a "carefree attitude" was behind his side's remarkable one-day revival after leading them to a thrilling seven-wicket win over New Zealand at Trent Bridge on Wednesday.
The hosts finished on 350 for three, with six overs to spare, after Morgan (113) and Joe Root (106 not out) shared a stand of 198 -- a third-wicket record against New Zealand.
No England side had previously made more batting second to win an ODI than their 306 for five against Pakistan at Karachi in 2000.
But Morgan's men overhauled that with ease to post the equal fourth highest chase in all ODI cricket as they levelled the five-match series at 2-2.
Left-hander Morgan failed to top 46 at this year's World Cup, where England's humiliating first-round exit included an eight-wicket thrashing by eventual finalists New Zealand at Wellington in February.
But he has now scored 322 runs at an average of 80.5 in four innings this series against the Black Caps heading into Saturday's decider in Durham.
Wednesday's win under the Trent Bridge floodlights also meant England had scored over 300 in four successive ODIs for the first time in their history.
It was all a far cry from the World Cup and Morgan, asked to explain the transformation, told Sky Sports: "It's more the carefree attitude.
"The guys are pretty relaxed in the changing room and we're trying to keep things as raw as possible and concentrate on the process rather than the result and it seems to be working for us at the moment."
AFP
