On Tuesday (5th November) morning, the hosts New Zealand will face the visitors England in the third T20I of the five-match T20I series at Saxton Oval (Nelson).
England won the first T20I of this series at Christchurch. The visitors won that match by seven wickets (with nine balls to spare). However, New Zealand have levelled this series after beating the visitors in the second T20I at Wellington. New Zealand won that match by 21 runs. Both teams are now looking for a crucial victory in the Nelson T20I which will help them to lead this series.
New Zealand players want to continue the winning moment
As the hosts, New Zealand have a big advantage in this series. But the inconsistency in batting is one of their major problems. The openers are struggling to provide the solid start regularly. Moreover, the regular skipper Kane Williamson is unavailable in this T20I series due to the hip injury.
The left-arm spinner Mitchell Santner is currently the best New Zealand player in this series. In both T20Is of this series, Santner picked up three wickets. Moreover, for his match-winning bowling performance, he won the Player of the Match award in the last game.
Also, most of the other bowlers have good experiences in international cricket. Tim Southee-led New Zealand is unlikely to change the Wellington T20I playing XI.
It is important to see how the inexperienced English players react in this situation
In the ongoing T20I series, inexperience is the major issue of the in-form limited-overs side England. However, the English bowlers are performing much better. However, Chris Jordan is playing a massive role in the T20I bowling line-up.
Also, England haven’t much experience in this T20I batting line-up. This batting line-up is hugely depended on the openers Jonny Bairstow and David Malan along with the English captain Eoin Morgan.
In the last game, England suffered their first T20I defeat in this year. We can see one or two changes in the English playing XI for the Nelson T20I.
Stats Preview:
(New Zealand)
i) Colin Munro (1,464 runs) needs to score 36 more runs to become the fifth New Zealand batsman to score 1,500 T20I runs.
ii) Colin Munro (918 runs) is 82 runs away to become the second New Zealand batsman to score 1,000 home T20I runs. Only Martin Guptill has achieved this feat as he has scored 1,320 runs in home T20Is.
iii) New Zealand leg-spinner Ish Sodhi (46 wickets) is four wickets away from the 50 T20I wickets. Meanwhile, the left-arm spinner Mitchell Santner (44 wickets) needs to take six more wickets to achieve the same figure. Only Tim Southee (73 wickets) and Nathan McCullum (58 wickets) have picked up 50+ T20I wickets for New Zealand.
Where to watch:
Indians can watch this game live on Star Sports Network on Tuesday (5th November) from 06:30 AM IST. Meanwhile, SKY Sport will broadcast this live in New Zealand on Tuesday (5th November) from 02:00 PM (14:00 local time). On the other hand, Sky Sports will broadcast this in the UK on the same day from 12:30 AM (00:30).