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Christchurch, second T20

England 236-4 (20 overs): Salt 85 (56), Brook 78 (35)

New Zealand 171 (18 overs): Seifert 39 (29), Rashid 4-32

England won the series by 65 runs to lead it 1-0.

With just one match left, England won the second T20 match by 65 runs thanks to Phil Salt and Harry Brook, giving them a 1-0 series lead.

The visitors impressively piled up 236-4, which is England’s fifth-highest total in T20 internationals and the pair’s highest ever total at Christchurch’s Hagley Oval. The pair combined for 129 in 69 balls.

Opening batsman Salt continued his excellent form with 85 from 56 balls, but captain Brook’s five sixes and 35-ball 78 were the more destructive.

He punished a plainly uncharacteristically sloppy New Zealand fielding performance, with Jimmy Neesham allowing a quick dismissal of Brook from long-on, rendering the Black Caps bowling helpless at full speed.

New Zealand rarely threatened despite a strong start, which gave them a platform at 87-2 after nine overs, as a result of Brook’s hitting.

England’s catching was excellent, but the ever-reliable Adil Rashid only managed to get 4-32. In 18 overs, the hosts were bowled out for 171.

Before this series, Brook insists that his main focus is on getting ready for the T20 World Cup in February, not the start of the Ashes series.

Any Brook runs benefit both outfits, regardless of whether that is accurate or not.

Brook had a modest T20 international record as a captain, with an average of 29 and five fifties in 50 innings, but this was one of his best knocks in either white ball format.

On the same surface where his side struggled in the washed-out first T20 on Saturday, but which had flattened out, all of his sixes were clean strikes over midwicket, three off Mitchell Santner’s spin and one each off seamers Matt Henry and Kyle Jamieson.

In his six T20 matches since the start of September, Salt’s knock follows scores of 141 not out against South Africa and 89 against Ireland. He hit the covers and the back square on the leg side with one six but eleven fours.

After Tom Banton’s cameo, Salt and Brook both squandered their 18th over to get the better of the ground’s previous high of 208-5, and England romped past the ground’s previous high of 29 from 12 balls.

A successful chase was always a long shot for New Zealand, despite the country’s good batting surface and strong wind, which allowed for six-hitting.

They would be better served to consider Brook’s dropped catch as a defeat justification.

In Saturday’s washout, wicketkeeper Tim Seifert spilled a catch when Bethell sent a top-edge high into the wind on seven, and Sam Curran was dropped twice before ending on 49. For a team that is renowned for its fielding prowess, it is a uncommon issue.

England managed to get 10 catches, eight of which were deep-healed batters, thanks to Rashid’s difficult catch-and-bowled opportunity.

New Zealand had a second-wicket lead when Seifert and Mark Chapman put together a 69-run stand from 48 balls, but Chapman lost to Rashid and Liam Dawson in a collapse of four wickets in 3.1 overs.

One overpaying 23 slightly tampered with Dawson’s 2-38 figures.

Tim Robinson was sent off by Seamer Brydon Carse with his first ball, which Rachin Ravindra scored eight.

“It was exactly what we discussed with the ball.” It’s awesome to get another 10 wickets.

Mitchell Santner, the skipper of New Zealand, commented, “It was a little flatter than the other night. England’s game was clever, with both hits to the short and twos to the big shots.

Sean Dyche has been in advanced discussions with Nottingham Forest to become their manager.

Following the firing of Ange Postecoglou, Dyche is the front-runner to become the next Forest head coach, and the Premier League team hopes to finalize a deal on Monday.

Postecoglou was sent off 17 minutes after Chelsea beat Forest 3-0 in the Premier League on Saturday.

In what has been a turbulent season, Forest are currently 18th in the table after just one win in eight league games.

Marco Silva, the manager of Fulham, is admired but under contract, while Roberto Mancini has also spoken with Forest officials.

Given that Forest have already spent money on firing Postecoglou and Nuno Espirito Santo this season, Silva’s contract has a significant release clause that has come to light.

It’s also understood that Silva’s willingness to leave Fulham in the offseason is a problem.

The Australian’s tenure at Forest, which came 39 days after his appointment on September 9, was the shortest ever tenure under the Premier League, was marred by a failed win.

In the late 1980s, Dyche was a member of Forest’s youth team while Brian Clough served as manager, but he never made a first-team appearance.

Since taking over the Toffees in January, he was fired by Everton after just under two years in charge. He has not held a managerial position.

As Everton manager, Dyche led the club to 17th and 15th-place finishes, winning 21 games, losing 31 and drawing 23 of his 75 Premier League games.

Prior to that, Dyche served as Burnley’s manager for nearly ten years, helping the Clarets reach Europe for the first time since 1967, twice winning promotion to the top flight, and between October 2012 and April 2022.

Additionally, he served as Watford’s manager for the 2011–2012 season before losing his position as manager following a change of ownership.

Sean Dyche’s arrival at Nottingham Forest makes sense, in contrast to Ange Postecoglou’s appointment, because Nuno Espirito Santo’s style of play has always been more tactically appropriate for the city ground’s revival of European football.

The Australian struggled to impose his unique footballing ideologies on a squad that was so used to playing a certain way with no pre-season and a slew of games coming thick and quickly at the start of his tenure.

The addition of a similar-minded, pragmatic coach to Nuno should in theory help Forest’s players, who were defensively strong and proved to be devastating on the counter-attack in 2024 and 25, stay in the game.