On Sunday (3rd November), the hosts New Zealand handed the visitors England their first T20I defeat in this year. Meanwhile, New Zealand have levelled the five-match series after winning this second game of this series.
They played the latest T20I at Westpac Stadium (Wellington). After winning the toss, England decided to field first. While the opener Colin Munro (7) and the next wicketkeeper-batsman Tim Seifert (16) lost their wickets cheaply, another opener Martin Guptill finally played a positive knock. Guptill scored 41 runs off 28 balls (3 fours and 2 sixes).
Colin de Grandhomme and Ross Taylor both scored 28 runs in that innings. At late of that innings, James Neesham played a fast knock of 42 runs off just 22 balls (2 fours and 4 sixes). Neesham’s late blistering batting performance helped New Zealand to manage the first innings total of 176/8 (20 overs).
Once again, the English pacer Chris Jordan played a massive role with the ball in hand. He had the bowling figures of 4-0-23-3. Also, the left-arm pacer Sam Curran (2/22) scalped two wickets.
England were bundled out on 155 runs
Chasing down that target, the visitors lost their first two wickets inside the first two overs when they only managed to score three runs on the board. Since then, England lost their wickets at regular intervals and they never looked competitive in that innings.
Opener Dawid Malan (39 runs), captain Eoin Morgan (32 runs), Chris Jordan (36 runs) and Lewis Gregory (15 runs) were the batsmen in that innings who managed to reach the double-digit scores. New Zealand bowled out England for 155 runs (19.5 overs) as the hosts won by 21 runs.
The left-arm spinner Mitchell Santner was the best bowler for New Zealand. He had the bowling figures of 4-0-25-3. Captain Tim Southee (2/25), Lockie Ferguson (2/34) and the leg-spinner Ish Sodhi (2/37) all scalped two wickets each. Also, Daryl Mitchell (1/9) added one wicket in his account.
On last Friday (1st November), England beat New Zealand by seven wickets (with nine balls remaining) at Christchurch. But the latest result has levelled the series (1-1) with three matches to go.
After winning the six consecutive T20Is from October 2018, England finally suffered a T20I defeat. It was also the first T20I defeat for England in 2019 as they won all other five T20Is in this year.