Salt & Brook set up impressive England win over NZ

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.