England’s reshuffled T20I team went one up in the four-match T20I series with a comfortable seven-wicket victory against New Zealand. Dawid Malan and Harry Brook hardly broke a sweat as they built the foundation of England’s success in the second innings. Their 54-run stand allowed England to chase down a 140-run target. The Kiwi batters toiled hard in the first innings against the Three Lions bowling set-up which was a mix of young as well as experienced bowlers. This clash was England’s first T20I outing since the tour of Bangladesh in March. Despite injuries to debutants Josh Tongue and John Turner, England still managed to put up a bowling line-up that made the Blackcaps work hard for each run. In their chase of the target of 140, England stumbled thrice with Jonny Bairstow and Will Jacks returning to the dugout in the first seven overs. Harry Brook and Dawid Malan from that point powered England to chase down the target in the 13th over of the second innings. Earlier in the innings, Fin Allen who has been firing all cylinders got off to a decent start. But his attempt to take on pacer Mark Wood came back to haunt him. Allen failed to connect with the ball and lost his wicket. Except for Glenn Philips’s knock of 41, the rest of the visitors’ batting set-up failed to perform. New Zealand’s innings majorly suffered in the middle overs with Adil Rashid making things hard for them with his leg-breaks. Ish Sodhi’s 16 which consisted of a four and six proved to be a major factor in the Blackcaps reaching a total of 139. England will face New Zealand at the Old Trafford Cricket Ground on Friday.
Brief Score: New Zealand 139-9 (Glenn Philips 41, Finn Allen 21; Brydin Carse 3-23) vs England 143 for 3 (Malan 54, Brook 43*; Ish Sodhi 1-23).
