After losing the first T20, New Zealand beat England by 21 runs in the second match. Batting first, New Zealand scored 176 for 8 wickets, in response to which England team was reduced to 155 runs and lost the match. With this match, the five-match T20 series has reached 1-1 level. Both teams have won one match each.
The hero of New Zealand’s win was Mitchell Santner, who sent three England batsmen to the pavilion for 25 runs in 4 overs. Santner took the wickets of English captain Eoin Morgan, Sam Curran and Chris Jordan. New Zealand captain Tim Southee took 2 wickets to his name. Loki Ferguson and Ish Sodhi also took 2–2 wickets.
Guptill gave New Zealand a great start
In Wellington, England captain Eoin Morgan won the toss and chose to bowl first, but Martin Guptill gave New Zealand a bang. Colin Munro definitely returned to the pavilion after scoring 7 runs but Guptill scored 41 runs in 28 balls while playing Atishi innings. Coming to bat at number four, Colin de Grandhom attacked England bowlers and hit 28 runs in 12 balls. Grandhom hit 3 sixes and a four.
After this Ross Taylor scored 28 and finally Jimmy Neesham hit 42 runs in 22 balls, bringing New Zealand’s score to 176 runs. England’s fielding was extremely poor. His batsman James Vince left New Zealand to dominate England.
England’s team started off to chase a big target. Johnny Bairstow fell to Saudi on the first ball. After this, Vince, who dropped three catches, also returned to the pavilion after scoring 1 run. Malan and Captain Morgan did counter attack on New Zealand, but Santner dismissed Morgan for 32 runs in the 5th over. After this Sam Billings was bowled by Sodhi for 8 runs.
Sam Curran was also dismissed in the 11th over and the rightful finish was completed in the 12th over when Sodhi dismissed Malan for 39 runs. After that the victory was a formality for New Zealand, although Chris Jordan, with the help of 3 sixes and 3 fours in 19 balls, knocked 36 runs to 150 to somehow reach England. In the end, New Zealand piled on England for 155 to bring the series to 1-1.