Reopening memories of the ICC Men’s 2019 Cricket World Cup epic finals in July of this year: England triumphed in New Zealand after a Super Over – this time in the pivotal T20I of the five-game series at Eden Park in Auckland.
Early showers delayed the litter and shortened the game to 11 overs-a-side. When the game finally started, Martin Guptill and Colin Munro gave New Zealand a fiery start and ran on 55/0 in the three assigned powerplay overs. Guptill led the attack with clean hits on the leg side and cleared everything in his bow to achieve a 50 with 19 balls, which was his fastest in the T20Is.
🙌 Winners 🙌#NZvENG pic.twitter.com/WtkYCZEAfJ
— ICC (@ICC) November 10, 2019
Munro (46) slowed a bit after Guptill’s exit, but that did not stop him from becoming the fourth batsman to hit 100 in T20Is. A combined nine-in-one from the openers helped New Zealand to 83/0 after five overs, but England was good at giving just 12 runs from the next two overs.
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A late cameo by Tim Seifert (39 * out of 16) helped New Zealand rally 51 of the last four overs as they ended at 146.
In response, England was brought to its knees early, and New Zealand committed the openers to a “full and honest” policy. Kiwi opening pair Tim Southee and Trent Boult bowed Tom Banton and James Vince in the first seven balls and dropped England 9-2.
Jonny Bairstow did not allow the double strike to stop the chase by skillfully piercing the gaps, especially behind the wicket. A stint of 30 runs with Eoin Morgan (17) helped with the mini-recovery, but the English captain dropped out in the last powerplay game, and the team needed 108 of the last eight.
Sam Curran brought a free-flowing spirit and carted Kuggeleijn for 20 runs with four balls. it opened the locks when Bairstow struck him with three consecutive sixes before Ish Sodhi. The fifth and sixth overs produced 44 runs, just over 30% of the finish, and brought England back into play.
Here we go again… 🤜🤛pic.twitter.com/F4D0ArXft1
— Cricket World Cup (@cricketworldcup) November 10, 2019
A change of bowling in the form of James Neesham and Mitchell Santner from both sides brought benefits; Neesham sent Bairstow back, and Santner managed to get rid of Sam Curran and Lewis Gregory to keep the swinging battle going.
Tom Curran, who needed 36 out of three, tried a few adventurous bullets with varying degrees of success but held back with Sam Billings at the other end. The two finally needed 16 runs over the last – the same equation as in the World Cup final.
Neesham only gave away three of his first three balls and managed to get rid of Tom Curran during this time. But he then got lost with Chris Jordan’s first three balls – a six, a two and a four, raised the score and brought the game into the Super Over.
Morgan and Bairstow slammed two sixes in Super Over to reach a goal with 18 runs. However, Jordan did not produce much – Seifert, who opened with Guptill, carved out four through lids from the second ball, but went over to a superb diver catch from Morgan, leaving the kiwis behind with eleven of the last two. They finally fell back by nine runs.
