England One-Day International captain Eoin Morgan praised the effort of his side as they fell just short in the second highest ODI chase of all time.

Chasing 399 to win, 88 from Morgan and a maiden half century from Alex Hales put England in touching distance of a remarkable run chase.

However, it wasn’t to be as rain and intervened and left England needing 34 off 13 late on, which proved one step too far, but Morgan praised the efforts of all his players.

“It is really exciting when you sit in the changing room and the guys are raring to take on 398, throw themselves at the chase and show that they have the ability to do so,” he said.

“It provides entertainment which is great to be involved in and I am always thriving to play in those sorts of cricket matches.

“They are the cricket matches that we want our youngsters to strive to play in and hopefully there is more to come in the remaining three games.

“Up until around the 35th or 36th over we were hovering around the eight or nine runs an over required mark so it really was a great effort from the lads.”

A number of bowlers once again returned expensive figures with England’s Chris Jordan, nine overs for 97 runs and one wicket, coming in for particular punishment.

And Morgan believes there are areas in which his side can improve ahead of the third Royal London One-Day International of the series at The Ageas Bowl on Sunday.

“Overall our performance felt like a continuation of Birmingham which I am very happy about but there are areas where we can improve,” he said.

“Our fielding was a bit disappointing at times and our execution with the ball needs to improve before Sunday but we were playing one of the top sides in the world.

“New Zealand went about their innings perfectly and took advantage of the shorter boundary but all credit to our guys for the way they went about the chase.

“It was good that we managed to get back out and finish the game properly as there is nothing more frustrating than losing the end of a game to rain.”

 

Trent Bridge hosts the fourth Royal London One-Day International between England and New Zealand on Wednesday 17 June. Don't miss the chance to watch England's rivalry against the Kiwis continue with explosive white ball action and secure your seat now.