New Zealand beat England to tie T20I sequence 2-2

AFP

New Zealand beat England by a snug six wickets at Trent Bridge on Tuesday, with Tim Seifert hitting 48 and Glenn Phillips including 42, to degree the four-match Twenty20 International sequence 2-2.

England’s Jonny Bairstow (73) had hit his quickest half-century in T20 internationals because the hosts set New Zealand a goal of 176 after ending on 175-8 on a heat night in Nottingham.

The Black Caps then made it look one-sided, all the time forward as they completed on 179-4 with 2.4 overs to spare and Mark Chapman 40 not out.

England had gained the primary two matches, with New Zealand coming again strongly to finish on degree phrases.

“We were far from our best in the first two games and the last two have been closer to what this side is about,” mentioned New Zealand captain Tim Southee.

“They got off to a great start tonight but we knew that if we kept taking wickets it was the best way to slow them down. We were trying to be smart and make them take aggressive options.”

Opener Seifert was caught and bowled by Rehan Ahmed after reaching 48 from 32 balls, and Phillips additionally fell to the 19-year-old leg spinner when he was caught by Sam Curran but it surely was all too late.

“We got a reasonable score but it wasn’t enough because it was a good surface,” mentioned England captain Moeen Ali, standing in for the rested Jos Buttler, who then got here on anyway when Bairstow suffered shoulder ache and didn’t take the sphere.

“They had a brilliant start with the bat too and then we couldn’t wrestle it back.”

Bairstow had smashed 4 sixes into the gang by the point England reached their half-century in 4.3 overs, reaching his personal 50 off 26 deliveries.

England have been 63-0 on the finish of the powerplay on a promising wicket for batters however then misplaced opener Will Jacks (16) two runs later when he was caught by wicket-keeper Seifert off spinner Ish Sodhi.

Bairstow hit his sixth six of the night to take England to 105-1 however was caught by Daryl Mitchell off Mitch Santner for 73 off 41 balls.

Dawid Malan continued to pepper the boundary with three fast fours and England have been 126-3 when Harry Brook lofted the ball excessive and was caught by Mark Chapman for Sodhi’s second wicket.

Santner took his tally to 3-30 from 4 overs when he had Malan (26) caught by a diving Kyle Jamieson and Ali caught by Phillips for one.

Curran (5) was caught by Finn Allen off Rachin Ravindra and England have been 150-6, with Ahmed (11) run out within the final over on his dwelling debut and Liam Livingston (26) caught on the ultimate ball.

The two sides will meet once more in Cardiff on Friday for the primary of 4 one-day internationals with the World Cup in India solely a month away.