Published: Jun 24, 2015, 12:28 AM (IST)
Edited: Jun 24, 2015, 02:10 AM (IST)
A quick-fire by 68 Joe Root and couple of handy knocks by Alex Hales and Ben Stokes helped England to put up a challenging 180 for 7 against New Zealand in the one-off T20 International (T20I) at Old Trafford, Manchester. At one point of time, it looked England would score much more, but the slow bowlers of New Zealand dragged the game back on their favour a little. Though a target of 192 is going to be very stiff task of the Kiwi batters. Live Updates: England vs New Zealand one-off T20 International at Old Trafford
England had a good start as both openers, Jason Roy and Hales looked dangerous at the start. New Zealand started the innings with left-arm spin of Mitchell Santner. He did a good job of restricted the batsmen but from the other end Mitchell McClenaghan leaked a lot of runs. His poor tour of England continued. Live scorecard: England vs New Zealand, one-off Twenty20 International, Old Trafford
New Zealand got a lucky breakthrough when Roy was unfortunately run out for 23. Hales and Root took over from there. They put up a 50-run partnership for the second wicket in just 32 balls. Santner broke the partnership. England lose couple of quick wickets at that point. Hero is the Durham One-Day International (ODI) Jonny Bairstow came out ahead of Eoin Morgan, but the strategy didn’t work. Even Morgan also failed to impress with bat.
Though wicket were falling on the other end, Root continues his innings. He reaches his second T20I half-century and hit Nathan McCullum for 23 runs in the 17th over of the innings. Untill that over, the slow bowlers of New Zealand had bowled really well. Root got out to McClenaghan in the 18th over but Sam Billings and Stokes ensured England to finish with a very competitive score.
Amongst the New Zealand bowlers, Santner did the best job. He finished with a figure of two for 28. McClenaghan also got two wickets but gave away 37 runs.
Earlier, England skipper Morgan won the toss and elected to bat against. England were unchanged from the side that beat New Zealand by three wickets to seal a thrilling 3-2 series win in Durham on Saturday. Though this side contained three T20 international debutants in batsman Sam Billings, all-rounder David Willey and fast bowler Mark Wood.
New Zealand, in the final match of a tour that saw them draw a two-Test series with England 1-1, made three changes from the weekend. Hard-hitting Colin Munro replaced all-rounder Grant Elliott, left-arm paceman McClenaghan came in for Andrew Mathieson, who made his New Zealand debut in Durham, and off-spinner Nathan McCullum took the place of seamer Ben Wheeler.
Brief scores:
England 191 for 7 in 20 overs (Joe Root 68, Ben Stokes 24* ; Mitchell Santner 2 for 28) vs New Zealand.
