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England's comprehensive win at Mount Maunganui to square the ODI series on Wednesday night is not forcing a major rethink among New Zealand's brains trust heading into the third match in Wellington tomorrow.
Rather, all-rounder Mitchell Santner reckons, it is more about sticking with the philosophy that has led to New Zealand winning nine ODIs on the bounce this season up until Wednesday night.
Santner was among the pick of the New Zealanders in the six-wicket loss, top-scoring with his maiden half century, an unbeaten 63 that put some substance into an otherwise lacklustre batting effort.
A smart low catch at square leg got rid of the dangerous Jason Roy early before England powered away on the back of half centuries from captain Eion Morgan and the game-changing all-rounder, Ben Stokes.
"They've been playing some very good one-day cricket," Santner said yesterday.
"They're a quality side. They took down Australia in Australia and that's not easy to do, so we're going to have to play some of our best as well to beat them."
The philosophies of the teams were not radically different, certainly in the batting approach.
"Our blueprint is we like to be aggressive in the first 10 overs. Same with England," Santner said.
"Credit to them. In both games they've put us under pressure in the first 10 overs [New Zealand was 27 for three inside 10 overs in Wellington; 34 for two after 10 on Wednesday night].
"That partnership of Tom [Latham] and Ross [Taylor] in Hamilton got us to a pretty good position. Apart from that, we've been under the pump early. They've bowled nice and tight and haven't given us much.
"But we've seen before, when Colin Munro and Martin Guptill get going, we get off to a flyer.
"Then you have a little more time in the middle and can cash in at the back end."
The first two games have only reinforced a feeling that there is not much between these teams, ranked No3 (England) and No4 in the ODI game.
"We're very similar sides," Santner said.
"We know how good they are on surfaces similar to what we're used to. It's going to be a tight series, well fought, and whoever plays better on the day will take it.
"We need to learn from what happened in the last game and move on quick as we can and show that fight in Wellington."
The challenge for the New Zealand players is picking themselves up, possibly without two key figures.
A precautionary scan on Ross Taylor's quadriceps yesterday showed no serious damage, though he will still be required to undergo further assessment at the Black Caps training session today. His availability for today's ODI is yet to be determined.
Kane Williamson, who has a hamstring niggle, will also be further assessed at training.
Mark Chapman remains with the squad as cover.
