Key events
The third and final T20I is in Auckland on Thursday, with the match starting at 7.15pm local time/7.15am BST. I’ll leave you with Simon Burnton’s report from Hagley Oval – goodnight and good day to you.
Harry Brook puts his captaincy hat on for another quick chat
We’ve been good at taking wickets since the start of my captaincy, and to get another 10 there was awesome.
[On Rashid and Dawson] They’re extremely experienced. It’s warming to just be able to say, ‘Lads, you go and do your thing’. The odds weren’t really in Daws’s favour, bowling four overs in a row with a lot of balls to the left-handers and the wind howling towards the leg side, but he was phenomenal and that gives me a lot of confidence moving forward.
[On the detail of England’s field placing] There were a couple of shots that were plinked into the leg side and probably wouldn’t have carried if the fielder had been right on the rope. It’s another positive move towards taking wickets.
Mitchell Santner’s verdict
The pitch was flatter than the other night and England were very smart with the bat – they hit to the short side and got a lot of twos to the long side.
You need a lot of things to go your way [to chase 237]. You need a good Powerplay so losing early wickets made it harder.
The player of the match is Harry Brook
It felt good – it’s always nice to contribute and it was good to do it alongside Salty, who’s been very successful for us in this new era.
We thought there was more live grass on the pitch on Saturday. The sun’s probably helped us out and made it a bit flatter.
It was nice to get a few runs out there and hit a few out of the park.
[Did you have a favourite shot?] Probably the one off Mitch off the back foot. [Looks across and laughs] Sorry Mitch!
England are fast becoming a very dangerous T20 team. They don’t have the consistency of the world’s best, and we shouldn’t get carried away, but performances like this confirm that, in the parlance of our time, they have an extremely high ceiling.
They romped to victory despite losing the toss, which is often a problem at Hagley Oval. Phil Salt top-scored with 85 but the most eye-catching performance came from Harry Brook, who pinged five sixes in a joyful 35-ball 78.
England’s 236 for 4 smashed the record for the highest T20I score on this ground. New Zealand playing catch-up from ball one, even more so when Brydon Carse struck twice in the second over of their chase. Adil Rashid and Liam Dawson feasted on the middle order, taking six wickets between them, and Luke Wood touched up his figures with a couple at the death.
ENGLAND WIN BY 65 RUNS
WICKET! New Zealand 171 all out (Duffy c Brook b Wood 1) That’ll do. Jacob Duffy clunks Wood to mid-off and is well caught by Brook. All 10 wickets were out caught, a reflection of the pressure England put on New Zealand with such a huge score.
WICKET! New Zealand 169-9 (Henry c Bethell b Wood 0)
Nearly done. Matt Henry goes for a golden duck, cracking Luke Wood straight to Bethell at deep midwicket.
17th over: New Zealand 164-8 (Jamieson 2, Henry 0) Rashid finishes with figures of 4-0-32-4. Not quite a career best (he took 4 for 2 against West Indies at the 2021 World Cup) but a typically engaging spell.
“Rashid demonstrating again how overhyped he is,” says Brian Withington, “and that he brings barely nothing to this side apart from the occasional wicket. He often can’t even be arsed to bat!”
WICKET! New Zealand 164-8 (Santner c Curran b Rashid 36)
Adil Rashid signs off with his fourth wicket when Santner hoicks straight to Curran at deep backward square.
WICKET! New Zealand 161-7 (Neesham c Banton b Rashid 16)
Neesham fetches Rashid’s googly high to long on, where Banton steadies himself to take a comfortable catch. Three wickets for Rashid, who needs six more to become the fifth man to reach 150 in T20Is. Oh what fun we’ve had watching him.
16th over: New Zealand 158-6 (Neesham 16, Santner 35) Curran returns to the attack. Santner is dropped over the rope by Banton at long-off. It was a fine shot and Banton had a job on to stop the six, never mind take the catch.
Santner whirls Curran for four to bring up the fifty partnership in only 21 balls, with Santner’s contribution an eyecatching 35 from 12. I don’t think New Zealand are still in this game, but their captain Santner has at least ensured they won’t be completely hammered.
“Hi Rob,” says Gary Naylor. “It’s sometimes said that an advantage of T20s is that, if they’re one-sided, at least they’re over quickly. Not always…”
15th over: New Zealand 144-6 (Neesham 16, Santner 23) Nine from Carse’s over, a good effort that should close the door completely on New Zealand. They need 93 from 30 balls.
14th over: New Zealand 135-6 (Neesham 7, Santner 23) Santner swipes his fellow left-armer Dawson down the ground for six, the start of a weirdly shambolic end to a previously superb spell. The last three deliveries of his spell cost 20 runs, including five wides and another six from Santner.
Dawson finishes with 4-0-38-2; despite that last over, it’s been a good night for him.
13th over: New Zealand 112-6 (Neesham 5, Santner 8) England won’t be favourites for next year’s T20 World Cup, not even close. But the quality of their two spinners, the freedom and power of their batting and the existence of Jofra Archer makes them very dangerous opposition. In fact you can probably make a case for England being the new Pakistan.
WICKET! New Zealand 104-6 (Mitchell c Salt b Rashid 9)
Adil Rashid gets his second when Daryl Mitchell slog-sweeps a slower, flighted delivery into the hands of Salt at deep midwicket. This is turning into a rout.
12th over: New Zealand 100-5 (Mitchell 5, Neesham 5) Dawson has bowled expertly to the left-handers tonight. But Jimmy Neeshaw lands a blow for the southpaws with a lusty clump through midwicket for four.
New Zealand need snookers 137 from 48 balls.
WICKET! New Zealand 94-5 (Bracewell c Banton b Rashid 2)
England’s spin twins, combined age 72, are making a mess of the New Zealand innings. The left-handed Bracewell mishits a wide delivery from Dawson towards long-off and is excellently caught by Tom Banton.
11th over: New Zealand 91-4 (Mitchell 2, Bracewell 0) Mitchell smears a slow legbreak back at Rashid, who drops a tough chance leaping to his left.
“I may now live a lot closer to New Zealand than the Black Country but my mind automatically goes to Hagley in the West Midlands, rather than the one currently hosting this match,” writes Phil Withall. “I do feel that the Kiwis would stand a better chance chasing on that ground than this…”
WICKET! New Zealand 91-4 (Seifert c Cox b Rashid 39)
What kind of idiot would doubt Adil Rashid? He takes his first wicket of the game when Seifert top-edges a slog-sweep and is safely pouched by Cox at long-on. Cox didn’t get a bat but that’s his third catch of the innings.
10th over: New Zealand 90-3 (Seifert 39, Mitchell 2) In the context of such a high-scoring game, Dawson’s figures are 2-0-9-1 are mighty fine.
New Zealand need 14.7 per over. Yeah.
WICKET! New Zealand 87-3 (Chapman c Cox b Dawson 28)
Excellent bowling from Liam Dawson. His tactic of angling the ball across the left-handed Chapman from around the wicket pays off when Chapman drags a big shot to long-on. Jordan Cox makes an awkward low catch look easy and Chapman is on his way from 28 from 24 balls.
9th over: New Zealand 86-2 (Seifert 38, Chapman 28) For the second time tonight, a good over from Curran is ruined by a six off the last ball. This time Seifert pulled a high full toss into the crowd; it was a no-ball on height, meaning an extra delivery, but Curran managed to avoid further damage by zipping it through to the keeper.
8th over: New Zealand 75-2 (Seifert 31, Chapman 26) Liam Dawson, England’s junior spinner at the age of 35, replaces Sam Curran. His first over is a triumph of experience and economy: three singles, one two, no boundaries.
New Zealand need 162 from 72 balls. I mean, it’s possible.
7th over: New Zealand 70-2 (Seifert 30, Chapman 22) Pull up a pew: Adil Rashid is coming into the attack. We should savour every spell, because he’s 37 years old and it’ll be a long time before England have a spinner of his brilliance in any format.
Seifert pings a fabulous slog-sweep over midwicket and out of the ground. As I said all along, Rashid is wildly overrated. That six brings up a promising fifty partnership from 32 balls. There’s still a lot of work to do but they’ve kept New Zealand in the game after a difficult start to the innings.
6th over: New Zealand 60-2 (Seifert 22, Chapman 20) Sam Curran comes on for Brydon Carse. It’s less than three years since he was the player of the tournament at the T20 World Cup for his bowling; now Curran is very much a batter who bowls in this format.
Seifert picks a slower ball and smears it through midwicket for four. Curran goes through his variations to good effect… until Chapman drives his final delivery straight down the ground for six. Gorgeous shot.
5th over: New Zealand 48-2 (Seifert 17, Chapman 13) Chapman pumps Wood straight down the ground for four, then flicks stylishly off the hip for three.
Wood is a big threat when the new ball swings. Tonight’s it’s doing nothing and New Zealand are going after him. Seifert muscles two more boundaries through midwicket – one orthodox, one straight – to make it 15 from the over.
New Zealand need 189 from 90 balls. Try explaining that to SF Barnes while you’re at it.
4th over: New Zealand 33-2 (Seifert 9, Chapman 6) A second Carse no-ball goes unpunished. Chapman makes contact with the free hit this time but can only cloth the ball back to the bowler.
In fact both batters are unable to time the ball throughout a really good second over, the no-ball aside, from Carse.
3rd over: New Zealand 28-2 (Seifert 7, Chapman 4) Wood’s second over starts with another boundary, tucked off the hip by Seifert, but he recovers impressively to concede only a leg-bye from the last five deliveries.
2nd over: New Zealand 23-2 (Seifert 3, Chapman 4) Mark Chapman steers his first ball past slip for four. It’s a no-ball too, though Carse turns the free hit into a free miss by ramming a short ball through to the keeper.
Brydon Carse’s bowling figures belong very much to the T20 age: 1-0-13-2. Imagine trying to explain those bowling figures to SF Barnes at his most crotchety.
WICKET! New Zealand 18-2 (Ravindra c Buttler b Carse 8)
Another wicket for Carse! After hitting his first two balls for four, Rachin Ravindra snicks a drive through to Jos Buttler and is on his way for eight from three balls. Eight from three balls!
WICKET! New Zealand 10-1 (Robinson c Cox b Carse 7)
Brydon Carse loves bowling in New Zealand. He was sensational in last winter’s Test series and he has struck with his first ball tonight. Robinson tried a clip to leg but lobbed the ball tamely to Jordan Cox at mid-on.
1st over: New Zealand 10-0 (Seifert 3, Robinson 7) Tim Robinson belabours his second ball down the ground for six. Ten from the over, so New Zealand are already behind the rate.
Only a short break – the players are back and Luke Wood has the ball.
Half-time reading
New Zealand need 237 to win
Well that was fun. Phil Salt and especially Harry Brook played some spectacular strokes as England obliterated the record for the highest T20I score on this ground. It’s a seriously good pitch, though, so New Zealand aren’t out of the game.
20th over: England 236-4 (Curran 8, Banton 29) Early days but Tom Banton is looking really good in this new role of finisher. He backs away to guide Duffy to the right of short third for four, a superb stroke from a ball that followed him outside leg stump.
That’s the only boundary – but a flurry of twos make it 13 from the over and Banton finishes with 29 not out from 12 balls.
19th over: England 223-4 (Curran 7, Banton 19) Tom Banton slices Henry past short third for four, making this the highest T2oI score at Hagley Oval. He belts 14 from the next three deliveries as well, including a sweet six over midwicket. It’s all fun and games till some poor sucker looks at his bowling figures; Henry finishes with 4-0-45-0.
We’ve seen 23 fours and 10 sixes in this innings. And no bloody forward defensives.
18th over: England 205-4 (Curran 7, Banton 1) Sam Curran thumps the last ball over Jamieson’s spell down the ground for six. It only just cleared the leaping Daryl Mitchell on the boundary but, well, it did.
WICKET! England 198-4 (Salt c Bracewell b Jamieson 85)
They’re dropping like flies. Salt thumps Jamieson backs over his head and is taken by Bracewell just inside the rope. The catch itself was straightforward but he did superbly not to stand on – or topple over – the boundary sponge.