New Zealand didn’t start well as they lost both of their openers, Devon Conway and Finn Allen, quickly inside the powerplay which put them on the back foot.
Jos Buttler had won the toss and opted to bat first. England started off slow with the bat in hand. Jos Buttler looked scratchy in the initial few deliveries he faced and later ticked the scorecard around. Alex Hales smashed 15 runs off Tim Southee in the penultimate over of the powerplay and England rushed to 48 runs after the powerplay.
Hales got to his fifty, and the opening duo glued 81 runs together before Mitchell Santner trapped Hales with a tossed-up delivery, thereby attracting a stumping. Jos Buttler was dropped twice and also was given a runout chance, which meant the English skipper capitalized on the offerings. With some sixes from Harry Brook, Sam Curran in the end, England managed 179 runs on the board. New Zealand needs 180 runs to win from 20 overs.
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Coming into the run chase of 180, New Zealand didn’t start well as they lost both of their openers, Devon Conway and Finn Allen, quickly inside the powerplay which put them on the back foot. Spinners were seen bowling with the new ball for England but it was the conventional seam-up bowling which got the first two wickets. Sam Curran and Chris Workes were brilliant in the powerplay.
Kane Williamson and the hero from the last match, Glenn Phillips (62 off 36), stitched a partnership of 91 runs for the third wicket. To be exact, it was the latter who was smashing the English bowlers all around the park while Williamson (40 off 40) was holding an end up. Ben Stokes broke this stand by dismissing the Kiwi skipper in the 15th over to put the pressure back on New Zealand. Once they lost their captain, New Zealand lost their way. Glenn Phillips felt the pressure at the other end of needing 49 off 18 balls.
Sam Curran and Woakes bowled brilliantly in the death. Sam dismissed Phillips in the 18th over, and with that, the game was pretty much done and dusted. Ish Sodhi and Mitchell Santner did hit a few runs, but that could only reduce the margin of the defeat as England restricted the Blackcaps to 159/6 in their allotted 20 overs. For England, Sam Curran and Chris Woakes scalped a couple of wickets, while Mark Wood and Ben Stokes picked one wicket each.
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