After two heavy defeats, New Zealand took on England at Edgbaston, Birmingham, in the third T20i match between the sides.
Highlights from the match are below, from Sky Sports Cricket and the ECB.
Sky Sports Highlights
ECB Highlights
Conclusions
New Zealand are too good a side to roll over to a third defeat after two impressive England displays, and so it proved at Edgbaston, where powerful hitting by Finn Allen on a difficult surface proved to be the difference between the two sides.
Allen thwacked three sixes in a row off the bowling of Adil Rashid – no mean feat – as England’s spinners struggled for control.
NZ put on 203 having batted first, and England were unable to really get going thanks to solid bowling, good field placements, and scoreboard pressure.
Chasing that huge total, Jacks started well, but Malan was unable to get going, and he and Bairstow did not find any fluency during the powerplay. The turning points in there were clear though: Malan had a well struck reverse sweep stopped for a dot ball, which a yard either way would have gone for four, before getting only a single from a pulled shot which looked destined to be heading for a six, before being excellently fielded over the boundary.
New Zealand were sharp in the field, and stopped probably 15-20 runs in the first half of the chase, which maintained the scoreboard pressure. Even more importantly for them, when England looked to hit a long ball, each time it seemed to pick out a fielder, who grabbed the chance on every occasion. The only miracle stop which didn’t quite come off was an attempted over-the-boundary two-man catch which ended with a six for Buttler, who, along with Moeen Ali, was at the time England’s main threat.
When he fell, the rest dropped with regularity, until England ran out of options on a day where New Zealand were the more clinical.
The teams head into the fourth and final match at 2-1, keeping things interesting, with a decider.
