Dawid Malan‘s half-century, backed by James Vince’s 49, went in vain as New Zealand triggered a dramatic collapse late in England’s chase to win the third T20I by 14 runs in Nelson, and go 2-1 up in the series.
At one point, with 31 balls remaining, England needed only 42 runs with eight wickets in hand. And then, Eoin Morgan fell trying to slog Mitchell Santner, who kept persisting with the angle away from the left-hander. In 17 balls from thereon, they lost four wickets in return on only 10 runs. In a period of three overs, the tables had completely shifted.
For most parts of the chase though, England were cruising. Starting with the manner in which debutant Tom Banton had taken on the New Zealand’s new-ball pair. It was a short 10-ball stay, but yielded 18 fancy runs that gave England the early momentum.
Malan and Vince continued the good work with a 63-run stand in only 45 balls. Malan was the aggressor in the stand and hit 8 boundaries and a six en route his 34-ball 55. Vince, who had a forgettable outing only a couple of days ago, looked far assured on Tuesday (November 5). Even after Malan fell slog sweeping a low full toss by Ish Sodhi to the deep mid-wicket fielder, he continued to build on in the company of Eoin Morgan.
The England skipper looked threatening through the course of his stay, sweeping everything in his arc. The approach made Santner change his approach and had him bowl angling away from around the wicket. He erred in lines a few times, and even bowled a few wides. Yet, he continued to persist with the approach before eventually getting the better of Morgan, who got a tail edge of his bat and was caught at long-on.
England was never to get back into the contest from thereon. Tickner and Ferguson used their slower balls to good effect and return with identical figures – 2 for 25 – as England were restricted to 166 for 7.
Earlier in the day, Colin de Grandhomme’s quickfire fifty set the base for New Zealand’s innings. The hosts did have a smoother graduation to their scoring as compared to the previous two encounters, but the inability to press the accelerator harder in the death overs left them 10 to 15 runs shorter of what seemed a likely total around the 15-over mark.
Going in with a batsman short – Blair Tickner coming in for Daryl Mitchell – the hosts needed to rein in a bit of audacity with their shot-making. However, Martin Guptill provided another quickfire start, stroking seven boundaries en route 17-ball 33 before skying an off-cutter by Patrick Brown. On the other hand, Colin Munro’s poor form continued as he fell for an 8-ball 6 soon after.
Tim Siefert too struggled through his stay in the middle before becoming debutant Matthew Parkinson’s maiden T20I victim. However, with de Grandhomme hitting the ball clean and big, it didn’t impact the scoring rate. He even carted Saqib Mahmood for two fours and a six after he had already been taken apart for 15 runs by Martin Guptill earlier. The all-rounder continued his assault even in the company of Ross Taylor, who took his time to settle in.
De Grandhomme brought up his third T20I fifty with a straight six down the ground off Brown, and departed soon after. Taylor, much like in the previous innings, failed to push the scoring rate and was eventually hit on the back leg while attempting a heave and adjudged leg before.
England continued to use their variations of slower balls again to restrict New Zealand’s late acceleration. James Neesham and Mitchell Santner hit a few boundaries to take the side to 180 for 7.
Brief scores: New Zealand 180/7 in 20 overs (Colin de Grandhomme 55, Martin Guptill 33; Tom Curran 2-29, Matthew Parkinson 1-14) beat England 166/7 in 20 overs (Dawid Malan 55, James Vince 49; Lockie Ferguson 2-25, Blair Tickner 2-25) by 14 runs
