New Zealand secured a convincing six-wicket victory over England at Trent Bridge on Tuesday, thanks to outstanding performances by Tim Seifert, who scored 48, and Glenn Phillips, who contributed 42. This win has leveled the four-match Twenty20 International series at 2-2.
England’s Jonny Bairstow was in blazing form, smashing his fastest half-century in T20 internationals and scoring 41 balls 73 runs while England kept losing wicktets on the other end. How important was his innings can be understood in terms of that only one English player went past 30 runs mark and it was Bairstow. The home team set a target of 176 after finishing at 175-8 on a good batting wicket.
New Zealand, after losing first two T20 internationals, found their way and with consistentcy and power hitting in their batting line-up, they changed things around in the third match against England. The fourth match at Nottinghamshire was no different to their playing style, with attacking mode from upfront, Black Caps made the job look so easy and made the match seem one-sided, consistently staying ahead and finishing at 179-4 with 2.4 overs to spare, with Mark Chapman remaining unbeaten at 40 and Rachin Ravindra finishing on 17 runs.
Despite England’s initial lead with two wins, New Zealand mounted a strong comeback, bringing the series to a tie.
New Zealand captain Tim Southee commented on their performance, saying, “We were not at our best in the first two games, and the last two have been more in line with our team’s capabilities. We knew that taking wickets was the key to slowing them down after England’s strong start tonight. Our strategy was to force them into aggressive options.”
Opener Seifert was dismissed, caught and bowled by Rehan Ahmed after scoring 48 from 32 balls, and Phillips also fell to the 19-year-old leg spinner when Sam Curran caught him but Phillips had done the damage by then with 23 balls 42 runs flashy knock.
England captain Moeen Ali, who stood in for the rested Jos Buttler, expressed, “We posted a decent score, but it wasn’t enough on this favorable pitch. New Zealand made a brilliant start with the bat, and we couldn’t regain control.”
Bairstow was the highlight of England’s innings, hitting four sixes and reaching his half-century in just 26 deliveries. England was 63-0 at the end of the powerplay but then lost opener Will Jacks for 16, caught by wicket-keeper Seifert off spinner Ish Sodhi. Bairstow continued his aggressive play but was caught by Daryl Mitchell off Mitch Santner after scoring 73 off 41 balls.
Dawid Malan added to the score with three quick fours, but England was 126-3 when Harry Brook was caught by Mark Chapman. Santner further contributed with three wickets for 30 runs in four overs, dismissing Malan and Ali in a single over. England struggled in the latter stages of their innings, they managed to score only 35 runs in the four overs of their batting innings.
The two teams will face each other again in Cardiff on Friday, marking the start of a four-match one-day international series, with the World Cup in India just a month away.
