Trans-Tasman T20 Tri-Series 2018: England vs New Zealand- 6th match, 5 talking points
The sixth and the final league match of the T20I tri-series was played between between England and New Zealand at Seddon Park in Hamilton. With Australia having already qualified for the finals, the shoot-out for the last spot was between Eoin Morgan’s side and the hosts. New Zealand had just one solitary win in the short series while England had none and for them to qualify, they had to beat the Kiwis by a margin of more than 20 runs.
In pressure games, it always helps if a team knows the score that they need to chase down to qualify for the next round and therefore it was not surprising that New Zealand chose to send England in to bat first after winning the toss. The English were handed early setbacks but eventually ended with 194 for seven in their 20 overs.
New Zealand needed 174 to qualify and set about their chase in an organised manner before some late innings hara-kiri and accurate bowling from the English ensured that the visitors won the nail-biting game by 2 runs. However, this was not enough to stop New Zealand from qualifying for the summit clash.
Here are the 5 talking points from the game.
#1 Eoin Morgan’s rescue act
After Jason Roy and Alex Hales were sent packing, reducing England to 24 for 2 in just 3.1 overs, captain Eoin Morgan combined with Dawid Malan to rescue the team from yet another embarrassment.
The former Ireland player, who had not scored a half century in the format since Januray 2017, started off on a rather subdued note, but once he got back his momentum, boundaries were the only way forward.
He picked up 21 runs in the 11th over that was bowled by Mitchell Santner and ended the innings with 23 runs in just 5 deliveries, including three sixes and a four.
He remained unbeaten on 80 in 46 deliveries and was aptly aided by Malan, who was dismissed after making 53 in 36 balls.
However, after Malan was sent back by Colin de Grandhomme, none of the other English players were able to settle in and support Morgan.