Stu Forster/Getty Images
Black Caps batter Finn Allen in action against England in Birmingham on Monday morning (NZT).
At Edgbaston, Birmingham: New Zealand 202-5 (Finn Allen 83 off 53, Glenn Phillips 69 off 34; Gus Atkinson 2-31) beat England 128 from 18.3 overs (Jos Buttler 40 off 21; Kyle Jamieson 3-23, Ish Sodhi 3-33) by 74 runs.
Not so fast, England.
The Black Caps bounced back from a couple of thrashings to dish out one of their own and keep their road Twenty20 series alive with a match to play.
They can thank Finn Allen’s overdue knock at the top of the order for setting the 74-run win at Edgbaston in motion, after he struck his first T20 half century in almost a year.
Sometimes criticised for his lack of application and shot selection, Allen blasted 83 from 53 to give the visitors a much-needed fast start after captain Tim Southee won the toss and elected to bat.
Notably, the difference with this Allen knock was his patience and willingness to settle for singles early in his dig.
He faced 20 balls for his first 20 runs, giving himself a chance to get a feel for the conditions before freeing up and clobbering half a dozen sixes and four boundaries along the deck en route to his highest T20 score for New Zealand since he struck 101 against Scotland in July last year.
On the back of seven-wicket and 95-run defeats to start the four-match series, the runs kept flowing after the 24-year-old got cleaned up by Luke Wood, too.
Stu Forster/Getty Images
Black Cap Kyle Jamieson, centre, took three wickets against England in Birmingham on Monday.
Glenn Phillips took a real liking to the English attack on a peach of a day in Birmingham, cracking 69 off just 34 deliveries.
Phillips sent five deliveries over the rope and another five to it, as New Zealand gave the hosts a taste of their own medicine and powered to 202-5.
Whether that would be enough was far from a given at the halfway mark. After all, England had dispatched New Zealand’s bowlers to all parts the previous two matches.
However, nothing dents a chase better than snaring early wickets – which is precisely what the Black Caps did.
They had the dangerous Jonny Bairstow, Will Jacks and Dawid Malan back in the hut with just 30 runs on the board, while Harry Brook, who smashed 67 off 36 in the second match, managed just eight.
Stu Forster/Getty Images
New Zealand wicketkeeper Tim Seifert celebrates with Tim Souhee after the pair had combined to dismiss Adil Rashid in Birmingham on Monday morning.
Captain Jos Buttler briefly gave the hosts hope with a typically rapid 40 from 21. But when he was caught and bowled by Mitchell Santner, the writing was on the wall as they fell to 92-5 with less than eight overs in the bag.
With Matt Henry and Kyle Jamieson injected into the side for Adam Milne and Lockie Ferguson, all five Kiwi bowlers utilised snared wickets as the crowd were again sent home early.
Jamieson finished with match-best figures of 3-23, while spinners Ish Sodhi (3-33) and Santner (1-20) combined to take 4-53 from seven overs.
It was Sodhi who got the all-important wicket of opener Bairstow, who attempted to heave the leg-spinner over the deep mid-wicket rope but picked out the boundary-riding Phillips.
“Much better in all three areas, in a style we expect to see from NZ. Finn’s innings allowed people to bat around him and [Phillips’] innings on a wicket like that showed his class. First few overs were crucial and allowed the spinners to come through the middle,” Southee said post match.
The fourth and final match of the series is on Wednesday morning (NZT).
