- England Dominates New Zealand with Powerful Batting
- Harry Brook’s Stellar Performance in Partnership with Jonny Bairstow
- New Zealand’s Struggles and Disappointing Bowling Performance
England donned their undergarments for the second time in three days and quietly put New Zealand to bed. After Jonny Bairstow and Harry Brook pushed the host team’s total to 198 for four, the bowlers decimated the opposition’s batting order, with Gus Atkinson taking four wickets, including three in the final over of the night. Halfway through their reply, New Zealand was 77 for five and their task was already hopeless; England won the match by 95 runs in less than four overs.
England had scored one fewer run than Australia by the halfway point of their innings but had lost only two wickets and were beginning to thrive. Brook’s omission from their provisional World Cup squad was a major discussion point, and he has done plenty since then to keep people talking. Here, he was magnificent, entering with England at 43 for two and the game in the balance and leaving with his team ahead by 174 runs.
The 24-year-old attempted a couple of ramps without success – one attempt eliciting a frustrated scream. After scoring five fours and sixes, he made few mistakes before lifting one to Finn Allen late in the innings. New Zealand’s fields challenged him to reverse sweep, and Brook regularly lifted the ball over the circle fielders.
One Mitchell Santner delivery pitched wide of the leg stump was executed skillfully.
His partnership with Bairstow was decisive, contributing 131 runs off 64 balls. Bairstow’s innings consisted of three-thirds, with a slow start (he scored 26 runs off the first 28 deliveries) and a pedestrian finish (13 runs off 13 balls). During this time, he tallied 51 points on 19 shots, during which he and Brook were virtually unplayable. “We were just batting,” Brook stated.
Bairstow appeared likely to become the third Englishman to score international centuries in all three formats with six overs remaining in England’s innings, but he was deprived of the strike and did little with it when he had it. He faced exactly half of England’s deliveries, scored 86 runs without being dismissed, and was still vastly outclassed.
The first indication that this would not be New Zealand’s night appeared thirty minutes before the game began. Eoin Morgan, conducting the televised toss, announced that the coin had landed heads up and motioned for Tim Southee to make his selection before Jos Buttler pointed out that he appeared to be staring at a tail (as with Daryl Mitchell’s dismissal, an excellent review from England’s captain).
He then added to the sense of everything being turned on its head by electing to bat first: England’s preference. While not as steadfast as it was under Morgan’s captaincy, is still to pursue. Atkinson’s selection to make his international debut instead of Luke Wood was likely the most notable change. And the only one made to either side following Wednesday’s opening match.
Southee’s ball evening followed the coin toss’s pattern: early excitement, then disappointment.
His two overs in the powerplay yielded only eight runs and Will Jacks’s dismissal. Bairstow and Brook then resumed their work, and the New Zealand captain’s next over was the second most costly of his 112-game international T20 career, with England scoring three sixes, one four, and a total of 23 runs, and his final over yielding another 17. Only three times before has he surrendered more than the 48 runs he did here?
At least New Zealand had some early success against England. Their own began inadequately and deteriorated. The opening four deliveries of Liam Livingstone’s sole over of the night yielded six and two fours, suggesting a comeback. However, Mark Chapman dumped the final delivery into the hands of Brook at long-off, putting an end to that notion.
Tim Seifert, their only bright spot, skied the opening ball of the fourteenth over, and Buttler ran to catch it. Tim Seifert, their only bright spot, skied the opening ball of the fourteenth over, and Buttler ran to catch it. Southee was trapped lbw with the fourth ball, and Ferguson was bowled with the fifth.
