HAMILTON, New Zealand: New Zealand defeated England by five wickets in the second ODI in Hamilton on Wednesday, with the return of Jofra Archer unable to ignite the visitors’ full-throttle style of cricket.
The victory meant New Zealand clinched the three-match series with a game to spare after their four-wicket win in Mount Maunganui on Sunday.
England’s batsmen flitted between reason and recklessness after New Zealand won the toss, with the visitors bowled out for 175 after just 36 overs.
England’s aggressive batting often led to needless dismissals against the run of play, with no partnership lasting longer than six overs or more than 38 runs.
New Zealand’s bowling was steady but not unplayable. Blair Tickner claimed 4-34 on his return to the Black Caps after more than two years away.
Jamie Smith, Jacob Bethell and Brydon Carse holed out unnecessarily, Bethell showing a lack of awareness in picking out the deep-square fielder with the first ball after drinks.
Harry Brook, who was brilliant in scoring 135 in the first match, slashed a cut in the air to point off Mitchell Santner that was well taken by a diving Will Young.
England were 143-7 midway through the innings but couldn’t accelerate to a decent total without Brook at the crease.
Jamie Overton was the pick of England’s batters with 42 from just 28 balls, followed by Brook’s run-a-ball 34.
England took hope from Archer’s return ahead of next month’s Ashes series, and he worried New Zealand as soon as he took the ball.
Archer dismissed Young with the fourth ball of the innings and then troubled Kane Williamson and Rachin Ravindra with deliveries that seamed past both edges of the bat.
Where England had tried to hit their way out of trouble, New Zealand knuckled down and got through tough periods with grit and patience.
Williamson and Ravindra shared a 42-run partnership before the former chopped on to his stumps for 21.
Daryl Mitchell then arrived and combined for a 63-run partnership with Ravindra, until he pulled Archer to backward square for 54.
Archer gave England faint hope again with the dismissal of Michael Bracewell, completing match figures of 3-23 from 10 overs that included four maidens.
Mitchell, coming off a commanding 78 not out in the first match, steered the New Zealand chase to finish on 56 not out.
New Zealand were sweating on the fitness of star seamer Matt Henry, who suffered a calf strain before the match.
New Zealand hammer reckless England despite Archer’s brilliance
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New Zealand hammer reckless England despite Archer’s brilliance
- New Zealand clinches three-match series after their four-wicket win on Sunday
Nissanka’s second straight half-century powers Gulf Giants past Dubai Capitals in ILT20
- Nissanka blasted 67 off 31 balls, hitting six fours and five sixes, as he combined with captain James Vince for a match-winning partnership of 97 runs
DUBAI: Pathum Nissanka struck a second successive half-century as Gulf Giants claimed a four-wicket victory over Dubai Capitals in the DP World ILT20 on Saturday, moving to the top of the points table with their second consecutive win.
Nissanka blasted 67 off 31 balls, hitting six fours and five sixes, as he combined with captain James Vince for a match-winning partnership of 97 runs in 60 deliveries while chasing a target of 161. Vince played the anchoring role, finishing unbeaten on 50 from 45 balls as the Giants completed the chase in 18.5 overs.
Earlier, Azmatullah Omarzai led the bowling effort with figures of 3 for 46 to restrict the Capitals to 160 for 7. While several Capitals batters made starts, captain Dasun Shanaka provided late impetus with 23 not out from nine balls, including two successive sixes in a 19-run final over.
The Giants’ run chase gathered momentum despite the early loss of Rahmanullah Gurbaz for nine. Nissanka launched the assault in the powerplay, targeting James Neesham in the fourth over with three sixes and a boundary as the Giants raced to 60 for 1 after six overs. He brought up a 23-ball half-century before falling in the 12th over to Mustafizur Rahman, who claimed his second wicket of the match.
A brief wobble followed as Moeen Ali was dismissed soon after, leaving the Giants at 112 for 3, but Omarzai (14 off 12) and Tom Moores (13 off 8) made valuable contributions to support Vince, who saw the chase through to the end.
In the Capitals innings, Omarzai struck early to dismiss Shayan Jahangir before Sediqullah Atal and David Willey added 61 runs for the second wicket. Atal top-scored with 35 from 25 balls before falling to Ali, while the Capitals slowed considerably through the middle overs, managing just 18 runs between the 10th and 14th overs.
Jordan Cox and James Neesham revived the innings with a brisk 41-run partnership, but Omarzai returned in the death overs to remove Cox and Rovman Powell, finishing as the leading wicket-taker and moving into the lead for the White Belt.
“The fact that we got the points, and we feel we can play better is a good thing. We squeezed them with the ball in the middle overs,” Gulf Giants captain Ali said.
“Nissanka is a brilliant player and one of the top players in every format. Vince is also a quality player. He just did the job and played the situation well,” he added.
Reflecting on the defeat, Dubai Capitals captain Shanaka said Nissanka was in the form of his life.
“He’s amazing because he is so small, and yet he hits the ball so far. He’s going to give trouble to a lot of teams in this tournament. We could have shown a little more intent with the bat in that middle period,” he said.
“We didn’t try to find the gaps; rather than waiting to hit the long ball, we needed to rotate the strike. Rovman Powell and I probably could have gone a bit earlier, and we might get this right in the next game.”
