Nelson: A dramatic England collapse which saw five wickets fall for only 10 runs allowed New Zealand to snatch a 14-run victory in their Twenty20 international in Nelson Tuesday. It also put New Zealand 2-1 ahead in the series with two games to play.
England were on track to overhaul New Zealand’s 180 when they reached 139 for two in the 15th over, with captain Eoin Morgan in full flight as he cracked sixes off consecutive Mitchell Santner deliveries. But with England needing 42 off the remaining 31 deliveries Santner turned the match when he had Morgan caught by Colin Munro off the final ball of the over.
Dawid Malan (55) and James Vince (49) had laid a solid foundation for England at the top of the innings. But Morgan’s dismissal started a collapse which saw Munro run out Sam Billings for one in the following over before Blair Tickner removed Vince. In the space of two deliveries Lockie Ferguson bowled Lewis Gregory without scoring and had Sam Curran caught for two leaving Tom Curran and Saqib Mahmood to struggle through to the end.
“That’s one that got away,” England captain Morgan said, pointing to the lack of experience in his squad. “We were in control for the whole chase until we were three or four down, probably that’s a lack of experience. The guys need to get more games into them at this level. It’s great how competitive the series has been thus far. We are trying to integrate everybody into the squad. But certainly, we feel that it’s one that slipped away.”
But he added that his team’s gameplan remains the same and said, “Our gameplan remains the same; every thing about what we do is positive, smart, aggressive cricket. We want young guys to come in and adapt to that. A lot of positives to take away for us from today. A must win game for us as we move to Napier.”
Ferguson and Tickner both finished with two for 25 while spinner Santner and Ish Sodhi took a wicket apiece. “It could have gone either way at the halfway mark. But we knew if we could keep taking wickets it would be tough for them. We showed as a group that it was going to get tough if we kept taking wickets. As long as Morgan was there they always were going to have a sniff. Colin has kicked on for us from Sri Lanka. He is a great team man and he is striking it really well; nice to see him kick on and get a big score. There are still a few areas we need to work on,” New
Zealand captain Tim Southee said.
A sound middle-order partnership by Colin de Grandhomme and Ross Taylor laid the basis for New Zealand after Martin Guptill had given them a flying start with 33 off 17 deliveries. Man-of- the-match de Grandhomme smacked 55 off 35 while Taylor produced a more sedate 27 from 24 in a 66-run stand after New Zealand were three down in the eighth over.
With veteran Taylor defending one end, de Grandhomme was able to play his usual aggressive game at the other with five fours and three sixes in his 55.
“I’m definitely enjoying batting at No.4. I was hitting the ball pretty well in Sri Lanka and carrying on the form now. The earlier you get in (to bat), not nice for the openers, it’s nice on me; gives me more access to the boundaries,” said Colin de Grandhomme after the match.
It was a better performance by England in the field with a much-improved catching effort which accounted for four of the seven wickets. But the bowling discipline dropped as New Zealand
benefited from eight wides and two no balls.