Kane Williamson scored his eighth half-century in Twenty20 Internationals
Image courtesy of: Zimbio
New Zealand captain Kane Williamson and opening batsman Martin Guptill smashed 72 and 65 respectively as the Black Caps beat England by 12 runs in the fourth match of the T20 tri-series in Wellington.
As a result of their win, New Zealand have now won one match and lost one, while England have tasted defeat in all three of their games.
Being put in to bat first, New Zealand made a brisk start before opener Colin Munro was caught by Sam Billings at long leg off the bowling of Mark Wood for 11.
Guptill and Williamson made up for the loss of Munro with an 82-run partnership, during which Guptill brought up his half-century.
Martin Guptill struck his 13th fifty in the shortest format
Image courtesy of: Zimbio
The opening batsman went on to make 65 off 40 balls, which included six boundaries and three sixes, before he was caught by Liam Plunkett at short fine leg off the bowling of Adil Rashid.
Rashid struck again on his next ball as Colin de Grandhomme was brilliantly caught by Chris Jordan at long-off.
Williamson and debutant Mark Chapman, who was born and has played for Hong Kong, added 48 runs to the score before Williamson was clean bowled by Jordan for 72, which came off 46 deliveries and included four boundaries and four sixes.
Chapman went on to make a 13-ball 20 before he was caught by Billings off the bowling of Wood.
With debutant Tim Seifert hammering a six-ball 14, New Zealand finished on 196/5 off their 20 overs.
Wood and Rashid picked up two wickets apiece, while Jordan chipped in with one.
Chasing 197 to win, England lost opener Jason Roy in the third over as he was caught by Trent Boult at mid-on off the bowling of Tim Southee for eight runs.
Alex Hales and Dawid Malan stabilised the innings with a 65-run partnership before Hales was caught by De Grandhomme at deep midwicket off the bowling of Ish Sodhi for a 24-ball 47, which included six boundaries and three sixes.
James Vince was on his way back to the pavilion shortly after as he was run out by Williamson for 10 runs.
England began losing wickets at regular intervals after Vince’s dismissal, including that of Malan, who scored 59 off 40 balls, which included six boundaries and two sixes.
Dawid Malan’s knock of 59 went in vain
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As a result of the consistent flow of wickets, England ended up falling short of their target.
Sodhi, Boult and Mitchell Santner took two wickets apiece, while Southee claimed one.
Williamson, who was named Man of the Match, was delighted to have won the match, and said: “[Important win?] Obviously very important in the context of the series, in some ways a must-win against a very strong England side. We had to play good cricket today. It was important we assessed the wicket. It played a lot better than it looked and we got off to a good start.
“[Personal performance] You always want more runs, you always train hard, that’s the focus. There’s been occasions recently when you want to contribute but it wasn’t to be. There were enough partnerships today and the two debutants played nice cameos.
“[Bowling?] Thought the guys stuck at it really well. Trent was outstanding at the death, but we knew it would be a challenge and the guys stepped up to the mark today.”
England stand-in captain Jos Buttler was gutted to have lost once again, and said: “[Performance with the ball?] “Maybe 10-15 too many, that proved to be the difference, the wicket played a lot better and it was a good game. [Guptill and Williamson] They put us under pressure and we tried to find way to break that partnership… We dragged it back pretty well but they got too many.
“[Good start?] When Hales is in that sort of form, he’s as good as anyone in the world and Malan impressed again as well. We probably didn’t get those cameos lower down, myself coming in and failing and that made a difference. [Need a favour from Australia?] That’s what we need now, so we’ll wait and see what happens.”